Bengough's chalk-talks : a series of platform addresses on various topics, with reproductions of the impromptu drawings with which they were illustrated

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J'ir T f"%ifT
.WBE

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of Toronto

THE ESTATE OF THE LATE
EFFIE M.K. GLASS

BENGOUGH'S CHALK TALKS

BENGOUGH'S
CHALK-TALKS

A

Series of Platform Addresses

on various topics, with reproductions

of the impromptu Drawings with

which they were

illustrated.

BY

J. W. BENGOUGH

TORONTO

THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY
LIMITED

Copyright, Canada, 1922
THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY, LTD.
PUBLISHERS TORONTO

199643

Presi of T. H. Best Printing Co., Limited, Toronto

To

The Indulgent Public

who have for two generations been

the appreciative patrons of my

platform work, these

Chalk-Talks
are gratefully dedicated.

CONTENTS

Page

REMINISCENCES OF A CHALK TALKER - - - 3
THE PICTORIAL POTENTIALITIES OF THINGS IN

GENERAL ----- 40

A CHALK TALK FOR SCHOOLS ------ 56

SANTA CLAUS AND MOTHER GOOSE - - - - 67

WOMAN SUFFRAGE - 78

FREE TRADE ---- ---95

THE SOCIAL QUESTION -------- 116

ANTI-BARLEYCORN ----------- 136

"Do YOUR BIT" - - 150

BENGOUGH'S CHALK TALKS

REMINISCENCES OF A CHALK-TALKER

HE dawn of my ambition
to become a Cartoonist is
dated as far back as
1870. Of course, for some
years prior to that — I
refuse to be more specific
— I was much given to
the lead-pencil. I had de-
veloped a facility at
drawing which was
recognized by my school
mates, and even by that
formidable personage,
the " Master," who, I gratefully remember, made
me a present on a faraway Merry Christmas, of
a box of paints, anticipating, no doubt, that it was
my destiny to shine amongst the great ones of the
then future Canadian Royal Academy. It was
also significant, perhaps, that one of the books
presented to me as a prize for general proficiency
in learning at the same institution was a work on
"The Boyhood of Great Artists." I cannot help
thinking that this "reward of merit" was more
of a testimony to the liberal views of the ex-
aminers on the subject of proficiency, than to my
own deserts. I am afraid I cannot claim to have
been a diligent student.

4 CHALK TALKS

I suppose there never was a school which was
quite destitute of boys and girls who displayed
something of a taste for drawing. And the ability
to make pictures of some kind furnishes so pleas-
ant and convenient a method of getting rid of time
which hangs heavy, or of becoming oblivious to
studies which are not attractive, that the only
wonder is so few juvenile artists develope into
professionals, especially now that drawing has a
place in the curriculum. I do not regard it as re-
markable, therefore, that the talent should have
been displayed in the seat of learning I refer to.
There was no attempt in those days at systematic
instruction. The tendency was perhaps rather to
discourage it as a means of wasting time, except
on special occasions. There was a day set apart
— the golden Friday afternoon as I used to think
it — on which the severity of the week was graci-
ously relaxed, perhaps through the genial in-
fluence of the approaching Saturday holiday and
Sunday rest — when the time was devoted to the
more fancy branches of culture, the writing of
"compositions," reciting of selections, and draw-
ing— which chiefly meant the unsupervised copy-
ing of the colored pictures of birds and animals
which were the only artistic decorations of the
room. I have, of course, some recollection that I
was numbered amongst the pupils who had a
talent for drawing, but I am not honestly able to
corroborate the stories which I find extant of
wonderful feats of portraiture on the school black-

CHALK TALKS 5

board with which I am credited. Many of these
accounts are to me novel and interesting, but I re-
gard them as due to the (perhaps unconscious)
fictional powers of my contemporaries of that day.
I will say, at least, that if it is true that I ever
depicfed the head-master in a clearly recognizable
way and in any other than a most complimentary
fashion, I must have been rash and reckless to a
degree. Tales have come to me, on the alleged
authority of an earlier master in this school, of the
many times he had to thrash me for blackboard
caricatures. He probably believed this himself,
but it was not so. It seems to me, too, that in
harboring such a delusion the good man did him-
self little justice as a pedagogue.
* * *

My interest in Cartooning was first awakened
by the work of Thomas_ Nast in Harpers Weekly.
I was amongst the devoted admirers of his elabor-
ate and slashing full-page attacks in that "journal
of civilization" on Boss Tweed and the Tammany
Ring, as the paper reached our town each week
through the local bookstore. Nast had the field of
political cartooning practically to himself for
years, and must have inspired thousands of boys
as he did me. I had meantime been exercising
my gift in a casual way, but the fact that such
efforts had to stop with the picture in pencil or
ink without any possibility of its appearing in
print was a discouraging circumstance, and my oc-
casional cartoon sketches of our town editor, the

6 CHALK TALKS

journalistic dictator of the district, were merely
passed from hand to hand for the enjoyment of the
select few.

The first subject of more than local note to
afford material for my pencil was Matthew
Crooks Cameron who, as Queen's Counsel, was
often in attendance at the County Assize Court.
His spare, intellectual face, with the tuft of hair
beneath the lower lip, and the unruly mass falling
slantwise over his brow, made him a "good sub-
ject," and one I had subsequently much use for
in "Grip," when he had become leader of the
Opposition in the Ontario Legislature.

Responding to the mysterious charm which
printer's ink had always had for me, I attached
myself as a compositor to the office of the Whitby
Gazette. The Gazette was owned and edited by
Mr. George H. Ham, now known from ocean to
ocean as one of the chief human assets of the Can-
adian Pacific Railway, and a man who enjoyed
amongst his townsmen a reputation for geniality
and ready wit which has now grown to continental
proportions. Although I recognized that my im-
mediate services appertained to the composing
room and consisted in the setting up of type, and,
on one particular night of each week, performing
some function around the Washington hand-press
in the getting out of the paper ; and that it was for
these services alone that I got my pay, yet from
the first I regarded the mechanical department as

CHALK TALKS

the mere vestibule to the career I had chosen. My
asDerations were higher ; that is to say, they were
fixed upon the editorial chair, which was upstairs.
Since it was impracticable to contribute cartoons
to the paper, which I would gladly have attempted,
had there been any method of producing the cuts,
I endeavored to find an outlet for my pen, and
from time to time had the satisfaction of seeing
the results in print, though I was all the while
conscious that this o 'ervaulting ambition of mine
met with the unspoken but quite definite opposi-
tion of the foreman when it happened to trench
at all on labor hours. I had perhaps begun a
valuable contribution for the next issue upstairs
during the dinner interval and found it unfinished
when the bell struck for the mere mechanical
operations to resume; but did this foreman con-
sider what it meant for the literary reputation of
the Gazettte ; did he consider how much more valu-
able such service was to
the proprietor than any I
could possibly render
''sticking type"? Not he;
he would come to the foot
of the stairs and in a most
peremptory and dictator-
ial voice intimate to me
that I was required below,
and, of course, he was
quite right technically.
But an unexpected oppor-

8 CHALK TALKS

tunity arose. Germany suddenly declared war on
\ / France and the whole world, including the Gazette
office, was agog. The frenzy for war news im-
mediately sprang up, and our proprietor, in a
spirit of commendable enterprise, determined to
get out a daily edition, in the form of a four-page
war bulletin. The enterprise met with popular
favor, but it happened (fortunately, as I thought)
that frequently the despatches were not sufficient
to fill the available space. Here, then, was an
aching void that I felt was a providential oppor-
tunity. Copy was needed, and it ought to be liter-
ary copy. With the approval of the proprietor
I undertook to write a serial story. I did write it,
and it was printed in daily instalments. It is not
for me to appraise its quality as literature, but
I think I can safely affirm that is was read, and
that it produced a certain effect. It was a story
with a purpose, and that purpose was to keep the
reader guessing as to what it was all about. So
far as I know, nobody ever guessed it, but I have
an uneasy feeling that it was the incidental cause
of a great amount of profanity in the town. It
might be argued that nobody was obliged to read
the serial, and that if they didn't like it they
might have left it alone. Ah! but could they! I
, have only to state that the title of this work was
"The Murderer's Scalp, or the Shrieking Ghost
of the Bloody Den." Could you leave that alone?
In the intervals of writing the chapters of this
great story (which I think it might be a promising

CHALK TALKS 9

speculation to revive now as a photo-play with
Mary Pickford in the title role, if she could dis-
cover it) I divided my time "between mechanical
duties for sordid wages and poetry for the good
of humanity, and meanwhile I kept an eye on
Thomas Nast, the cartoonist. I remember how
shocked and resentful I felt upon hearing some
critic say that Nast was not a good draughtsman ;
that his work was far from being technically per-
fect. The critic was quite right, as I am now
obliged to admit, but I still share the general
opinion that notwithstanding any shortcomings in
execution — attributable largely, I believe, to the
wood-engraving process by which they were re-
produced— his cartoons were wonderful, and their
moral force in many cases great and even terrible.
I was full of enthusiasm over the. fall of Boss
Tweed and the Ring, and of course ready to en-
dorse the prevalent opinion that this desirable
result had been brought about chiefly by the
Cartoonist's weapon. I had read the reported re-
marjs of Tweed, that he did not care what was
written or said about him, but hated those pict-
ures. To signalize the occasion I made a pencil
drawing as nearly as I could in the Nast manner
of handling, representing the members of the
Tammany Ring, Tweed, Conolly, Hall and the
rest, standing in a circle around the artist, and
with uncovered heads paying him obeisance. This
I sent to the editor of Harper's Weekly, and it
was with no little pride and gratification that I

10 CHALK TALKS

received a letter in reply conveying the editor's
congratulations on ' ' the accuracy with which Mr.
Nast's touch was reproduced," and adding that
the artist would himself greatly appreciate the
compliment. My satisfaction was complete when
subsequently I received an acknowledgment from
Nast himself in autograph form, supplemented
by something I prized greatly — an impression
from an etched caricature of himself by himself.
I went to Toronto about 1871, and considered

\J • ."T*

myself in great luck in obtaining a place on the
city reporting staff of the Globe, then under the
editorship of Mr. Gordon Brown and the general
oversight of his more widely known brother, Hon.
George. There was at that time no thought of a
cartoon for the Globe, or indeed for any daily
: paper in Canada. Even the most enterprising
journals of the United States had not yet intro-
duced the cartoon feature and it was to be a good
many years before the ubiquitous syndicates
would spread everywhere the doings of ' ' Mutt and
Jeff," " Buster Brown," and the "Katzenjammer
Kids," that have since become something of an
affliction to the newspaper reader. But even the
plain, purposful cartoon, that is so well adapted
to reinforce the editor's argument, had apparent-
ly not been thought of in daily .journalism,
and I can well believe that to have seriously
proposed such an innovation to the proprietors
of the Globe would have been to cast them

CHALK TALKS 11

into what "Jimuel Briggs"" would have called
a " dangerous condition of aghastitude. "

I continued, of course, to nurse my artistic am-
bitions, and being convinced that a course of art
study would do me good, I enrolled myself as a
student in the evening class conducted under the
auspices of the Ontario Society of Artists. If I
had only appreciated the advantage of persever-
ing through the dry and irksome early stages of
the course, I should no doubt have had reason to
be thankful ever after, but patient plodding was
not to my taste, and the copying of the placid
countenances of Greek deities in plaster casts
proved too much for me before the end of the first
term. I foolishly preferred to "study from life."

One of the faces which attracted my notice was
that of Hon. James Beattie, Senator of Canada
and proprietor of the Leader, the
old established and atrociously-
printed organ of the Conservative
party. Mr. Beattie was less rever-
ently referred to in print as "Old
Jimmie", and it was his pleasant
custom to take his ease on Summer
afternoons in an armchair on the
sidewalk in front of his office, which
happened to be on the shady side
of King street at the corner of the
alley still known as Leader Lane.
There he sat in quiet contemplation

*The pen name under which Mr. Phillips Thompson wrote a notable
serjes of humorous articles }n "The Mail,"

12 CHALK TALKS

of the movements of his fellow-citizens, and ready
to receive the greetings of the faithful, especially
those of the true-blue L.O.L. persuasion, who re-
garded him as a venerated chief. The face and
'/ figure of the eminent gentleman were irresistible
to an incipient cartoonist and after careful obser-
vation on a memorable day I produced a pencilled
portrait of the subject. This I showed to a friend
who requested leave to show it in turn to Mr.
Sam Beattie, the old gentleman's nephew, who
was business manager of the paper. I refer to
the day as memorable because the sketch led to
developments significant for me. Mr. Sam was
greatly amused with the caricature, it appears,
and within a few days I received, not the original
drawing, but a lithographed duplicate thereof
which had been produced at the neighboring
establishment of Rolph Bros. I had not up to
that time known anything of the mysteries of
lithography, and the ease and accuracy with which
the reproduction was done struck me with amaze-
ment ; but further, it gave me an idea. Why not
start a weekly comic paper with lithographed
cartoons? The way was certainly clear me-
chanically ; and not much consideration was given
to the financial aspects of the project — though this
was not due to the consciousness of an available
bank account. Only a very modest capital was
called for, however, and with the friendly co-
operation of Mr. A. S. Irving, manager of the
Toronto News Co., the project was brought to

CHALK TALKS 13

fruition and the first number of "Grip" made its
appearance on May 24, 1873. There was no great
public furore over the initial number, and it is
hard to say what might have been the outcome of
the venture had it not been for the sudden occur-
rence of a great political sensation which is now
known in history as the "Pacific Scandal." The
whole country was at once aflame with interest
and excitement, and an absorbing theme adapted
to keep "Grip" going for many issues had thus
been supplied at the right moment. The circula-
tion increased rapidly, and the permanent success
of the publication was assured. It went on with-
out a break for over twenty-one years, during
which I remained as Editor and Cartoonist.

After experiencing some changes in the me-
chanical production of the paper, going from litho-
graphy to wood-engraving and back again, we
finally settled down to zinc etching. Some time in
the late '80 's there walked into the office one day
a quaint figure of a Scotsman, who announced that
he had a method of etching on zinc by which he
could make an autographic reproduction of a
drawing which could be printed along with the
type, thus combining the advantages of litho-
graphy and wood-engraving, while being cheaper
than either. This was William Stewart, who ac-
cordingly settled down in the "Grip" establish-
ment and impressed his personality upon all con-
nected therewith. He was deeply immersed in the
mysteries of his new art — I think he claimed it as

14 CHALK TALKS

his own discovery ; which I now regard as doubt-
ful, though he was unquestionably the pioneer of
zinc-etching in Toronto — but he was rarely too
preoccupied to be ready and willing to discuss the
fine points of theology with any "foeman worthy
of his steel." On such occasions he supported the
position of the Agnostics with an absorption
which not only endangered the orthodoxy of his
opponent but the successful outcome of the batch
of cartoons on the sheet of zinc he had at the
moment in the acid bath, which he was meanwhile
rocking to and fro like a cradle. Poor old Stewart !
He was a kindly soul with all his queerness — such
as his preference for working with what he called
'fakements' rather than having a proper equip-
ment of his work room; and his sublime indif-
ference to appearance in the fit and style of his
clothes. He remained with "Grip" long enough
to see the art of photo-engraving develop in the
city to a degree which quite superceded his crude
methods, and at length he drifted out of the es-
tablishment as quietly as he had drifted in.

"Grip" had scarcely any artistic contributions
apart from my own. The cartoons which appear-
ed for a time dealing with current political issues
in the Province of Quebec, and signed L.^Cote
were not an exception to the rule. When the fir5?!
of the series appeared I remember that a con-
noisseur in art, high up in the city schools, hap-
pened to come into the office. He was looking
through the current number on the counter, and

CHALK TALKS 15

when he came to the Cote cartoon he gave a de-
lighted start and became immensely interested.
' ' L. Cote, ' > he cried, ' ' Who is he ? Where did you
come across the chap? That fellow can draw; no
offence, you know, but really you ought to model
yourself on his style." Of course I felt gratified;
so much so that I couldn't refrain from telling
the visitor in strict confidence that I had done the
work myself, purposely adopting a slashing
"French" style of handling. He was the only
outsider to whom this important fact was ever
"given away," so far as I know.

But it is time to recall that the present volume
is concerned with Chalk-Talks and not with
journalism. However, Chalk-Talking is merely
doing the work of a Cartoonist on the public plat-
form, with spoken exposition instead of letter-
press. My first appearance in this capacity was
made on March 20, 1874, during the first year of
"Grip's" career, at the Music Hall, corner of
Church and Adelaide streets. For this, to me,
momentous occasion I made due preparation well
in advance. The general interest which the paper
was attracting was, of course, the immediate
apology for a public appearance, and the ex-
perience I had had as a reciter gave me confidence
that I would be able to face the ordeal of drawing
and talking before an audience. But I must have
the talk in readiness, — in short, I needed a
lecture ; and I concluded that I must have it writ-
ten by an expert. This conclusion landed me in

16 CHALK TALKS

no little trouble and anxiety, but the idea of going
ahead and "getting it up" for myself either did
not occur to me at all, or was dismissed as some-
thing beyond my capacity. At all events, I de-
cided to give the job out, but before seeking a
writer I must be in a position to tell him what I
wanted written about clearly. It was not a case
where a man had to find utterance for something
he had to say, but to find something to say to
which he could give utterance. After lengthened
cogitation I hit upon the title "Pleasantries of
Public Life. ' ' That, however, was not
deciding upon a subject, for I did not
really know then, and have not been
able to find out since, precisely what
the title meant. It had an attractive
sound, anyway, and that was a strong
point. The writer I had selected was
Mr. Wm. J. Rattray, of whom I had
heard as a literary genius who had
done fine humorous work for the
Grujwbler (a Toronto comic paper of
earlier days) and had won high distinction at the
University. I went and introduced myself to Mr.
Rattray and came to terms with him for the * ' con-
tract." He certainly looked the part of the
literary genius. He was frail of figure with a thin,
pale, intellectual face and a great mane of un-
kempt hair. He was also the traditional humorist,
in deportment, for there was nothing about him to
suggest "touch and go jocularity"; he had all the

CHALK TALKS 17

required air of melancholy. He undertook the
commission without even enquiring what the title
meant, arid indicated a time when he would have
the work ready. He failed, of course, to keep his
engagement, and it was only through repeated
visits and much urgency that at last, a month or
more beyond the date appointed, I received the
manuscript. I read it with deep interest, and dis-
covered that the writer had expounded the title
as having reference to the frailties and foibles
of various classes of people who are more or less
in the public eye.

Deeming it desirable to make my first bow under
good auspices, I fixed upon the Mechanics' Insti-
tute as the most suitable organization, and upon
putting the matter before Mr. John Taylor, the
president, it was taken up cordially and the date
was arranged.

The eventful evening at length arrived, and on
ascending the platform in company with the chair-
man of the occasion (the late Aid. J. J. Withrow)
I found myself in the presence of a "large and
fashionable audience." My mechanical equip-
ment consisted of a tripod easel furnished with
a supply of white newsprint paper, and a quantity
of black conte crayons not much thicker than slate
pencils. In addition I had my manuscript—
"mine" since I had paid for it! — which I had
fairly mastered. It may be allowable to append
here the report of the occasion which appeared
in next morning's Globe (March 21, 1874) :

18 CHALK TALKS

THE PLEASANTRIES OF PUBLIC LIFE. — Mr. J. W.
Bengough delivered his lecture thus entitled, and
having the novel feature of pictorial illustrations
drawn offhand by the lecturer in full view of the
audience, last night in the Music Hall, under very
auspicious circumstances. Mr. Alderman With-
row, one of the directors of the Mechanics' Insti-
tute, in connection with which the lecture was
given, presided, and in introducing Mr. Ben-
gough remarked that this was the first occasion on
which that gentleman had appeared in this public
capacity, though his name had become familiar
to them all as the artist whose pencil had pro-
duced all the clever caricatures which had appear-
ed in "Grip". Considering the comparative
youthfulness of the lecturer, even so intelligent an
audience as that which greeted him last night
must have been somewhat surprised at the ability
displayed in the literary portion of the essay,*
as well as at the artistic talent indicated by the
accompanying sketches. The lecture had evident-
ly been prepared less with a view to its affording
entertainment as a piece of composition than to
its being a vehicle for the introduction of the
sketches, a setting forth of the latter, so to speak,
yet in some parts of it a very promising literary
merit was shown, particularly in the exordium,
and in the original! rhythmical peroration des-
criptive of Canada's probably glorious future.

* Borrowed plumage, alas 1

t This was a poem by E. W. Thompson which had appeared in
"Grip".

CHALK TALKS 19

A very subtle sense of humor was also evinced,
which, no Jess than the telling caricature, gave
the audience great amusement and provoked re-
peated roars of laughter. Mr. Bengough's first
drawing was a sketch of a house such as idle
school boys are in the custom of making on their
slates ; his excuse for this was that on an accasion
like the present the first thing to be done was to
"draw a house" A good house had already been
drawn, however, as the hall was well filled. He
then went on to explain that the " public men''
who were the subject of his lecture were not mem-
bers of Parliament, as some might suppose, but
embraced many who figured in various other
roles. Who the latter were become apparent as
the lecturer proceeded to hit off in capital style
the peculiarities of the newspaper interviewer,
the author, the editor, the critic as well as the
Senator, the leaders of Her Majesty's loyal op-
position, the young member who moves the ad-
dress in reply to the speech and other legislators.
The manner which Charles Keade, the novelist,
has for measuring swords with his critics was
cleverly set forth in a description consisting al-
most entirely of the titles of several of his novels.
During the lecture about fifteen or twenty
sketches were made, and the facility with which
the physiognomies of well known individuals were
delineated in caricature was very striking. The
artist seemed to be able to put the right line in the
right place at once, and so far from any rubbing
out or alteration being required, the majority of

20

CHALK TALKS

'?wuj FWii'fSr ">a

&3¥ rP#W<

fe*#2i //'zVC^ f^v !

N ^>:^^t^\ri VC«(K4n

^{ ^S2\ fe^

Some of the <; Subjects" of the Initial Chalk-Talk.

CHALK TALKS 21

the audience generally testified that they had
caught the draughtsman's idea before the sketch
was nearly finished. Among those who were
portrayed in different characters were Lord Duf-
ferin, the Hon. Alex. Mackenzie, Sir John A.
Macdonald, Prof. Goldwin Smith, Wilkie Collins,
John B. Gough, Mathew Crooks Cameron, Hon.
A. Mackellar, Chief Justice Wood and Alderman
Baxter. At the conclusion of the lecture the
sketches were put up at auction by Mr. Davy,
the secretary of the Institute, in accordance with
a wish expressed by the audience, and after a
spirited duel between Mr. B. H. Harrison, Q.C.§
and another gentleman they were knocked down
to the former for $45.

It is natural, no doubt, that my recollection of
this first appearance should be quite clear. One
of the features of it which I recall gratefully was
the genial and sympathetic aspect of the audience,
which I found a great help. Had I then given
the heed to sartorial matters which lecturers are
supposed to do, I had some reason for disquiet in
the fact that I was not wearing the regulation
full-dress, but was arrayed in all the glory of a
brown velvet sack-coat. No riot ensued, however.
Either there was a fine democratic spirit in the
audience or the costume was deemed suitable for
an occasion on which a suggestion of the studio

was in order.

* # * *

An immediate result of this success was a.de-

§ Afterwards Chief Justice Harrison.

22 CHALK TALKS

mand for my services in various parts of the
Province, and so during that season and in each
succeeding year since I have been more or less
upon the platform. Cartoons drawn in these
early years are still extant in many of the places
visited, and citizens still linger who are able to
give all the details of the ''local hits".

The period covered is now well over forty years,
and the field of action has embraced not only the
whole of Canada, but a goodly proportion of the
United States, Australia and New Zealand, not to
mention some casual appearances in the Old Land.
I may mention with due gratitude that in all these
travels I have never had the personal experience
of an accident either by land or water, nor have I
ever witnessed a disaster of any kind. Further-
more, during the years when "Grip" was running
I continued my work while absent on tour. In
the case of my first visit to the Pacific Coast I
furnished an illustrated page in the form of an
autographic diary for every issue. I think it
rather remarkable than only once did the matter
thus sent by mail fail to reach the office in time for
publication. This exception happened, however,
in the last week of the trip, and I arrived home
just in time to do the work over again. It was a

close call, but the record was saved.

# * * *

It will be interesting, perhaps, to jot down now
some platform experiences peculiar to myself on
account of the nature of my entertainment. A

CHALK TALKS 23

main feature has been the cartoon sketches, and

I have made a specialty of doing pictures of well-
known local men.

This has always been immensely popular with
the public, especially when I have had subjects
with attractive faces from the caricaturist's point
of view, and good material, in local issues of an
amusing character. I have made it a rule to
avoid anything that could reasonably give offence
in these " local hits," and, as a general rule, the

II victims" enjoy the fun as well as their neigh-
bors. I have had eminent citizens come to me
and proffer their assistance — offer to "lend their
countenances," as it were, and only in a very few
cases have I been made aware that the subjects
didn't like it. On one of these occasions the irate
individual waited outside the door of the hall
breathing out threatenings and slaughter. His
breathings attracted the attention of the depart-
ing audience, and there was a good deal of excite-
ment in anticipation of the "set-to." Cooler
counsels prevailed, however, and I was pleased
to find that, after all, it did not become my duty
to personally chastise the poor fellow.

Other unpleasantnesses of this sort I recall in
connection with my first visit to the Maritine Pro-
vinces. At a town in New Brunswick one of my
sketches represented a pudgy gentleman coming
a cropper on the ice while declaring that he was
"going to learn to skate if it took all summer."
The original was a notable character of the place,

24 CHALK TALKS

familiarly known to every man, woman and child.
He sat in the audience, and might well have been
gratified at the indication of his popularity furn-
ished in the "loud applause" and " long-contin-
ued cheers and laughter" which greeted the car-
toon. But he took another view of it. He con-
sidered his dignity interfered with — and I think
myself this was a fair enough conclusion.

At all events, having taken his wife home, he
was returning to the hall when we met him. I
was accompanied by my manager. He stopped
us, but with no pugilistic intentions. He pro-
ceeded to vindicate his dignity by a vigorous
speech delivered in short, quick sentances, punc-
tuated with frequent repetitions of his habitual
phrase, "What say?" The conclusion of his im-
passioned harangue was to this effect:

"Wha' right you got — what say? — to go round
the country caricaturing respectable people—
what say? You'll be gittin' killed some o' these
times — what say? All right enough to make
caric'tures of John A. Macdonald — what say?—
Albert J. Smith — Anglin — what say? — but what
d'you want makin' caric'tures of respectable men
like me — what say?"

What could I say? I could only tell him no
offence was intended, and when the manager in-
terposed to suggest that he come with us and have
a cigar or something his anger passed away and
the incident closed.

Nova Scotia presented the next example of the

CHALK TALKS 25

/

man who couldn't take a joke, in the person of an
old chap at Pictou. It was perhaps fortunate for
me that he was not present in the audience, as his
disposition seems to have been somewhat murder-
ous. I was blissfully unaware of any trouble,
and it was only after I had left the town (which
happened to be by a very early train) that I
learned he had gone to the station with a big club,
threatening terrible vengeance. A little later in
this tour I was at Yarmouth, a city which was at
that time only reachable by stage-coach. I gave
two evenings, under the auspices of the Y.M.C.A.,
and the net result of the local sketches was three
very mad men. One of these, a retired sea cap-
tain and shipbuilder, made a personal assault
upon a citizen whom he charged with having
"posted" me, and the consequence was a rough-
and-tumble fight, during which the plate glass
window in the shop where they chanced to meet
was smashed.

To indicate the fragility of some people's tem-
pers. I may mention that the cartoon which
excited the captain to such a display of wrath
represented that worthy — a complimentary like-
ness, too — pointing with pride to a ship he had
just built as the largest ever launched in the
Province. Sketches on the second evening —
equally devoid of malice, of course — set two more
eccentrics on the rampage. Though no actual
violence resulted, there was a rather ridiculous
crowd gathered around the stage-coach upon our

26 CHALK TALKS

departure, and to cap f ? climax the leading
paper of the town had a solemn article deprecat-
ing the action of the Y.M.C.A. in bringing so dis-
turbing an attraction to the place. Yarmouth is
now on the railway, and its citizens have grown
broader-minded. At all events, I have had no
sort of trouble on subsequent visits.

I think the instances I have refered to exhaust
the list of the offended — unless I include the case
of an Alberta gentleman who, in more recent days,
took vengeance by tearing up a sketch which lie
regarded as not doing justice to his fatness. He
was about as stout as a skeleton, and the study
for the drawing was made from a sitting which
he had most agreeably given me.

The local sketch feature, which, so far as I
know, is a specialty attempted by no other plat-
form artist, is one which involves a lot of trouble
and anxiety, apart altogether from the possibility
of giving unintended offence to the supersensitive.
It does not often happen that I am so lucky as to
have a sufficient number of available subjects
brought to the hotel where I can comfortably
make preliminary studies for the evening. This,
of course, is the ideal plan. Ordinarily the right
ones have to be sought after, and often they can-
not be found. It has frequently been my ex-
perience, too, to arrive at a town late, and to find
the audience already assembled and perhaps
growing impatient for the "show" to begin.

This is a decidedly tight box to be in when one

CHALK TALKS 27

knows that interest is centred on the "local hits."
Yet I do not remember an occasion on which I had
to own myself beaten. In one way or another I
have managed to secure a supply of faces, and
sometimes these vertible snap-shots have proved
as successful as all-day studies could have been.
As a rule, I deem it absolutely necessary to see
my man, or at least a photo of him — though I
never work from photos if I can help it. But I
scarcely expect ever to repeat the hit I made on
one occasion with a cartoon done entirely from a
verbal description of the subject. This happened
at Erin, Ont. The parties interested in the enter-
tainment were extremely anxious to have a certain
citizen included in the sketches, but they regretted
he was not in town, and there was no picture of
him to be had. "What type of a man is he?"
I asked. "A stout man, weighing about so much,"
was the reply, and I then went on with a cross-
examination as to the shape of his face, form of
nose, style of eyes, character of mouth, etc., and
having thus formed my conception I produced a
pencil drawing and submitted it. * ' That 's he to a
dot!" was their verdict, and during the evening
when I reproduced the face and figure in crayons
there was a universal shout of recognition.

If I had been able to do the same thing in the
case of a character in Bridgewater, N.S., I might
have spared the poor old fellow some unnecessary
terror. I thought to get a look at him by calling
at his shop as an ordinary customer, but no doubt

28 CHALK TALKS

his fellow-citizens had been teasing him in ad-
vance, and he was sensitive to the point of de-
mentia. The moment I opened the shop door he
recognized me, and never have I seen dismay and
horror depicted more clearly on a human face.
He gave one terrified look and an unearthly
screech and darted toward the back room, pulling
his coat-collar up over his head and screaming
"Get out, devil! Get out! Get out!" I got out.

On the other hand there are some who, to put
it mildly, are more appreciative of my attentions.
At Ingersoll for example, on one occasion I had
the celebrated poet Mclntyre on my list. I pic-
tured him in the act of reading one of his match-
less odes to an Ingersoll-made cheese, and the
acclamations of the throng inspired him to rise
in his place and treat us to a brilliant impromptu :
"I am thankful to Bengough
For the way he has taken me off. ' '

I have not always had as smooth and pleasant
an evening as this, and I
have a record of one mem-
qrable occasion which
might be entitled "The
Entertainer Entertained."
It was also a striking illus-
tration of the old saw,
"Pride must have a fall."
A flamboyant newspaper-
man had announced himself
to deliver a lecture on

CHALK TALKS 29

"Journalism" at the opera house of one of our
Ontario cities, and he engaged me to be present
and make illustrations of his remarks, sagely
reasoning that this would heighten the interest
and success of the affair. I had never met the dis-
tinguished gentleman before, but within five min-
utes I had sized him up as a "bombastic puff-
ball" When I suggested going over the manu-
script of the lecture he scornfully mentioned that
he had nothing prepared beyond a few headings.
"I am an orator," he declared; "I never write
anything down. I can speak any length of time.
I've been on the platform with Cartwright and
Tupper, and can talk all around either of them!"
I have not the heart to write out the full comedy
of the evening, but I may say that a more abject
and ludicrous fizzle never happened on the plat-
form. He began bravely, but broke down com-
pletely after uttering half a dozen sentences. I
suggested that he take a seat while I filled in the
time with a sketch. After a short rest he resumed,
but collapsed again about the same place. I came
to the rescue again, while he stepped out to the
wings and took a refresher with a big stick in it.
Another start, another break, and another re-
fresher, while I made another sketch. And history
repeated itself for a third time, but when he began
for the fourth, the stimulants had taken full effect,
and he could only babble some incoherent apolo-
gies about having been drugged by his enemies.
Then he made a final disappearance, and left an

30 CHALK TALKS

anxious public to wonder what he had to say about
"Journalism." For a failure this lecture was,
in its way, a tremendous success, and in consider-
ation of this the people did not get their money
back. I may add that I am still out fifty per cent,
of my stipulated fee, but perhaps the experience
was worth it.

As an example of the Irish manner of getting
over an awkward situation, this instance would
be hard to beat. At Souris, Man., in a quest for
material I saw what I considered a specially good
mark in an old Irishman who was sunning himself
on a bench in front of the hotel. On making en-
quiry I was assured that everybody for miles a-
round was familiar with him ; so I sat down beside
him to make my study, which' does not necessarily
involve the making of a sketch. "We soon started a
friendly chat which somehow quickly drifted to
politics, and it became apparent that he was a
true-blue Conservative. Apropos of something,
he entered on a denunciation of "thim Grits" as
a ' ' pa-arcel iv humbugs ". " Mackenzie an ' Caart-
wright an' thim, — they're no good," he said.
"They couldn't make good times at all. Caart-
wright was nothin' but a fly-qn-the-wheel, he said
so himself. An' Mackenzie was just as bad, —
they couldn't do a thing to dhrive away th' haard
times!" I ventured to suggest that Sir John A.
Macdonald, too, had failed to bring good times
though he had promised to do so with his Na-
tional Policy. At this the old fellow looked stag-

CHALK TALKS 31

gered for a moment ; then he said with a deprecat-
ing gesture and in a pathetic tone — "Ah well,
now; we'll say nothin' about the dead!"

# * # *

Speaking of Sir John Macdonald it is somewhat
curious that though he was for years my chief
stock in trade in the cartoon line, I only met him
personally on one occasion. This was a brief
interview in the Parliament Building at Ottawa
brought about through the kindness of Senator
J. B. Plumb. The quality in the great leader
which impressed me most during those few min-
utes was his air of shrinking bashfulness!

* * # *

It has been my good fortune to meet many of
the outstanding masters of cartooning in the
course of my travels. In America they are to be
found domiciled chiefy in New York. There, on
the occasion of an engagement with the Canadian
Club, Mr. Erastus Wiman, the president, pro-
vided a pleasant opportunity by bringing together
a company of notable artists at a dinner in the
Brunswick Hotel. At the great round table in a
special dining-room were seated Thomas Nast
(who had come from his home in New Jersey for
the occasion) — a dapper little man with a hooked
nose, bright eyes, a curled moustache and a beard
trimmed to a fine point at the chin; Joseph
Keppler, the originator of Puck, still more pict-
uresque in appearance, Bernhard Gillam, the chief

32 CHALK TALKS

cartoonist of Judge, Grant Hamilton, his col-
league (who is still working on the Judge staff),
McDougall of the World; McVicar, whose dainty
society sketches were a great feature in Life at
that time, and Baron de Grimm, a Kussian artist,
who contributed to the papers in general work
which was greatly admired — and others whose
names were less widely known. In the course of the
" shop-talk" that was indulged in (though spar-
ingly) Gillam remarked with much feeling that
he would give a good deal to have such a "sub-
ject" as Sir John A. Macdonald among the public
men of the United States. I was looking forward
to something specially good upon the ' ' removal of
the cloth," but this expectation was dashed when
Nast stipulated that there should be nothing in the
way of speaking — a suggestion which I was sorry
to see heartily endorsed by the others. A few
words from Mr. Wiman was, accordingly, all that
followed the dinner, and then somebody — I think
it was Keppler — proposed that we go in a body
to the formal opening of Coster & Bial's new
restaurant — a house of entertainment which was
fashioned on the old German model. It was all
kindly meant, no doubt, and I was "in the hands
of my friends," but I am afraid I fell short of
their reasonable expectations when they dis-
covered that I had no use for beer, with or without
pretzels.

Visits to Chicago have given me the privilege of
meeting the late Luther Bradley of the Neivs, who

CHALK TALKS 33

passed away in January, 1917. He was a very
fine and forcible draughtsman, and a man whose
work was done earnestly in the cause of
democracy. John T. McCutcheon, of the Trib-
une, is no doubt still more widely known. Mr.
McCutcheon 's strength is his humor, and his
fertility in ideas. Personally he is a quiet, gentle-
manly fellow, and in appearance and deportment
always reminds me of Sol Smith Russell, the
actor. He is personally very popular, arid is
credited with drawing an excellent salary as well
as excellent cartoons. He does not work in his
shirt sleeves in an upper chamber of the Tribune
building, by the way, but has a palatial studio in
the Orchestra Hall block on fashionable Michigan
avenue. The Tribune's sub-title of "the World's
greatest newspaper" is well founded if the num-
ber of cartoonists employed on the staff is the
criterion — it has no fewer than half a dozen who

lay claim to the title.

# # * *

In Sydney, Australia, I met Livingston Hop-
kins, whose name I had known since the early
days of "Grip," when he was a contributor to the
comic papers of New York, and where he publish-
ed an illustrated humorous "History of Amer-
ica." I found him a wealthy, elderly gentleman,
who made himself comfortable at his club after
his duties on the Bulletin were over for the day,
and before he motored out to his handsome
country home. He went to Australia many years

34

CHALK TALKS

ago and had quite become a native; so much so
that when he had recently gone back for a visit
to New York he declared he had been so over-
come by home-sickness that he had hastened back
to his beloved
Antipodes. I be-
lieve he is (if still
alive) part owner
of the Bulletin, and
that of itself means
competency. H e
was one of the
original friends
and admirers of
Phil. May, the artistic genius who began his
career on the Bulletin and ended as one of the
stars of Punch. The Sydney Bulletin with its
inevitable red wrapper is familiar in every corner
of the Antipodes, and wherever beyond their
limits Australians gather. It holds its place by
the sheer ability of its writers and artists, be-
cause to the straight-going, orthodox people of the
community it has from the first been regarded as
an organ of everything that is wrong-headed and
questionable. The paper has certainly been the
portal through which much of the literary and
artistic talent of the commonwealth has found
recognition. Scarcely a writer or artist of the
many Australia can boast but made his or her
original bow in the pages of this weekly. Will
Dyson and Norman Lindsay, names that are now

CHALK TALKS 33

known in the art circles of the Old World, are

other graduates of the Bulletin office.

# * * #

The political cartoonist who is best known in
the old country outside the pages of Punch is
undoubtedly "F.C.G." the initials of Sir Francis
Carruthers Gould — on whom a grateful Liberal
Government bestowed a knighthood within recent
years. F. C. G.'s medium is the Westminster
Gazette, an evening newspaper* printed on sea-
green paper with attractively wide columns and
large type. The cartoon is a pretty regular
feature, and is no doubt one of the chief assets
of the journal, though it also has in Mr. Spender
one of the ablest of London editors. F. C. G. is
evidently allowed a free hand, and accordingly
works under the most favorable conditions. He
has consequently scored a high percentage of
bull's-eyes in his time and is still (1922) going
strong, though no longer in the vale of youth. His
work from the technical point of view leaves a
good deal to be desired, and there is some
"poverty of invention" in background accessories,
but the point is generally there, and very often the
cartoon is a palpable hit. The Gazette people
publish a popular penny monthly under F. C. G. 's
editorship and containing a selection of the car-
toons from the daily. This publication is frankly a
Liberal campaign document representing at pre-
sent the Asquith version of Liberalism. F. C. G.
has also done a good deal, I believe, in the chalk-

*Recently changed to a morning issue, and with a new editor in
succession to Mr. J. A. Spender.

36

CHALK TALKS

talk way. On making a call
upon him at the office of the
Gazette I was greeted by a
man of ample proportion,
whose literally ''outstand-
ing" feature was a tre-
mendous pair of eyebrows
surmounting a face which
was covered with a full
gray beard and moustache.
The" eyes were so genial and smiling, however,
that they redeemed the face from any appear-
ance of grimness. I have called the beard gray,
but I must add that the inevitable cigarette had
tinted the hirsute adornments in the vicinity of
the mouth a very decided yellow. Our conversa-
tion drifted to Chamberlain and F. C. G. made a
number of pencil sketches of the great Tariff
Keformer's face — to which he was indebted for
a good deal of his reputation. Of course he had
vigorously opposed the Chamberlain propaganda.
One of his most memorable hits was apropos of
Chamberlain's variability in politics. The cartoon
represented the Premier (the Marquis of Salis-
bury) as a railway porter in charge of a head-
strong pointer dog wearing Chamberlain's face.
"Where is he going?" enquires John Bull. "I
don't know, sir," replies the perturbed porter,
" 'E's et up all 'is labels, sir!"

Though I was not in England in a professional
capacity, Mr. Preston, who was directing Can-

CHALK TALKS

37

adian emigration affairs, arranged some appear-
ances for me. Amongst them was an evening at
the Imperial Institute, Kensington. This is a
staid and dignified establishment where repre-
sentatives of the overseas Dominions and Col-
onies,— chiefly visiting government officials and
parliamentarians — are in the habit of delivering
instructive lectures on colonial resources, etc.,
with the inevitable lantern slides. It was no doubt
a rather venturesome thing to break the traditions
of this venerable British temple with something
in the semi-humorous line, but the result proved
that British audiences are capable of adapting
themselves. When on the appointed evening the
scholarly and polite secretary enquired whether I
had my lantern and other fixtures in readiness, I
gave him a perceptible shock in replying that I
intended to improvise my illustrations as I went

along. The subject
duly announced by the
chairman, Sir Rivers
Wilson, was ' ' Facts
and Fancies about
Canada, "and I opened
by remarking that the
Facts I had brought
with me, and the
Fancies I had found
flourishing in the
homeland. The main
substance of the chalk-

38

CHALK TALKS

talk was a satirical treatment of the erroneous
impressions which prevail in Britain about Can-
ada and its affairs, mixed with a certain amount
of correct and useful information.

I have gone through the operation of being
interviewed by newspaper men on a number of
occasions — sometimes also by newspaper women.
If the opportunity is given I much prefer to write
down my views and hand the copy to the reporter ;
there is less danger in that case of finding one's
expressions turned upside down. Sometimes the
ordeal is made more severe by the taking of a
snap-shot portrait which is to appear with the

CHALK TALKS

interview, and which is likely to prove something
of a terror when printed. At Seattle the young
man of the Post Intelligencer requested me to
make a cartoon of myself at work instead of using
his camera. The picture, which appeared under the
captain, "Canadian Cartoonist in Action" is here-
with reproduced from the three-column space.

Though my chalk-talk work is still mainly for
entertainment purposes it has of late years grown
to have more of a didactic purpose. It has been
made a medium for the promotion of causes
which have appealed to me. I have been pleased
to note as a sign of the times that audiences are
becoming willing to think as well as to be amused.
I have accordingly responded to many calls for
chalk-talks on prohibition, woman suffrage, the
social question, education and subjects of an
ethical character suitable for school audiences-
specimens of which are given in the following
pages. Perhaps it is not necessary to say that the
opinions therein set forth are those I have earn-
estly held for years on the subjects treated.

More than forty years of platform activity
argues an exceptional measure of good health. I
wish in closing these reminiscences to gratefully
acknowledge the kind providence which has thus
favored me, and also to record, as the result of
my observation and experience, that if, as
Stephenson asserts, "the world is full of a num-
ber of things" it also contains a vast number of
very good and agreeable people.

THE PICTORIAL POTENTIALITIES OF
THINGS IN GENERAL

A CHALK TALK JUST FOR ENTERTAINMENT.

WHILE 'my purpose on this occasion is to
provide an hour's entertainment, I do
not feel at liberty to devote the time
merely to foolery. "A little nonsense now and
then is relished by the wisest men" only if it has
a substratum of sense and meaning in it. Though
I do not assume that this audience belongs to the
section of the public which "takes its pleasures
sadly", I judge by its general expression of coun-
tenance that vaudeville is not exactly to its taste ;
that it is educated up to lectures, and when it takes
its diversion it prefers to have the light repast
made up of that which is nutritious as well as
easily digestible.

For this reason I feel it incumbent on me this
evening to provide something that is more or less
profound, and accordingly I have selected as my
theme the Pictorial Potentialities of Things in
General. I will endeavor to demonstrate that in
almost every department of thought and study
-t there is an element of the pictorial; that sugges-
tions for pictures are to be found practically

CHALK TALKS

41

everywhere, if you only have the eye to see them.
Of course, this is the eye of the imagination, which
is the organ of the faculty of observation. People
ought to be encouraged to cultivate their powers
of observation. Not many do so. The average
man doesn't really take notice of what he sees nor
perceive what he observes. The man of ar-
tistic pursuits is more apt to develop along this
line, and indeed it may happen that his propensity
for seeing pictures and opportunities for pictures
may become a distress to him. For example, sup-
pose he goes to church and
is conducted by the polite
usher to a seat immediately
behind a gentleman whose
rear elevation — as the archi-
tects would say — looks like
this :

He will be likely to find this distracting. How
can he keep his mind on the points of the sermon
while at the same time he is considering what a
pity it is that such an expanse of surface for a
picture should go to waste,
and is secretly longing for a
, „ ^v-- •«£ pastel crayon with which he
vfeC^^^K! could carry out the sugges-
tion that has occurred to his
resourceful mind — as thus:
While this would distract
the artist's attention from

42

CHALK TALKS

e

the sermon, he could no doubt console himself by
considering that he had at least mentally "im-
proved the occasion".

But reverting to the statement that almost every-
thing has a pictorial quality, let us begin at the
beginning, that is, with the alphabet. Although
you have been for some time quite familiar with
the alphabet, perhaps you had not observed that it
is available for picture-making. Suppose we select
a familiar word-say the word Love
(capital L) and write it
down in this form :

That is what we may call
the abstract form of the word ; but to
turn it into the concrete and infuse an
etement of human interest into it, all
we have to do is put a line around it.

And then, with a few
additional touches, we
have the personification
of Love in the lover, the
hero of the drama upon
whom romantic maidens
dote.

Speaking of love-
dramas, you must have
observed that they are
all a good deal alike, be-
ing variations on the
same theme. The plot is

CHALK TALKS 43

developed as a rule in four stages which we
may call acts — and the typical outline
may be given pictorially in this way,
showing how simple an operation it is
to make a picture-play :

Act One, the young man falls in love
And grows romantic, prone to spoony,

Calling the girl his turtledove,
And spouting poetry to the moony.

Act Two, he seeks her presence sweet
Within the home, he calls her prison ;
He casts himself at her dear feet
And asks the darling to be his 'n.

Act Three, the damsel spurns his suit,
Won't have him even as a brother,

She waves her arm and bids him scoot,
Because, forsooth, she loves another!

(Here he is in the act of scooting.
Note the dejected 'hav-
iour of his visage, as
Shakespeare says.)

Then comes the climax.
For this we need scenery
and effects, so I picture
the end of the wharf and
the raging waves of the
harbor.

44 CHALK TALKS

Act Fourth and last. This drama 's close

Is not the usual festive bridal;
Nay, 'tis a Tragedy. He goes
And makes an exit suicidal !
Thus you have, incidentally, an illustration of
the pictorial power of the single line, and we may
pass naturally from dramatic Art to the higher
mathematics. Euclid is not generally regarded as
an Artist, and Geometry is not thought of as hav-
ing a pictorial element in it, but I find the Mathe-
matical figures very suggestive when they are
^ looked at with the eye of observation. Take, for
example, the angle. I set down here side
by side an acute angle and an obtuse
angle. (I do not know why they are so
called, but perhaps the acute is the female and the
obtuse the male). Now, if I remember aright,
Euclid asserts in one place that an obtuse angle,
when it is in good health, is equal to several acute
angles. That he sets forth as a mathematical
truth, but it is also a truth of human nature, and
I proceed to demonstrate it pic-
orially. I need not deal in such
phrases as "produce this line",
"join this and this", or "from
this centre at this distance, des-
cribe this circle" — thus never-
theless we get the body of the
proposition and come to an
"understanding" of it. You see

CHALK TALKS

45

I don't use letters of the alpha-
bet on the corners as Euclid did,
but on the other hand I use a
little color — and on this hand'
too. Then I put a tint on the
face, as well. I've often thought
Euclid made a mistake in not
using color in his work. It en-
ables us to bring the demonstra-
tion to a head. There is the proof
complete. Q.E.D. Anybody who
understands juvenile human na-
ture will admit it.

I would pass on at once to
C^ X 47" W*&r&¥ my nex^ t°pic> because these
I ^~$f ^Rp§T? sketches are hardly works of
\ 1 t - <££&« art it is worth while dwelling
on, but I don't want to seem
to do an injustice to the little
girls, whose piety is quite
equal to that of the boys. A
few alterations and amend-
ments will convert this sketch
without turning over a fresh
sheet. Bangs on the brow,
hair pulled up at the back,
decorative ribbons, and what the medical auth-
orities call an Appendix behind; then lastly, the
nether garments, that is the chief mark of distinc-
tion cut now on this pattern and just about the

46

CHALK TALKS

length of the prevailing fashion — and the demon-

stration remains complete.

I would next call attention to
the Triangle. That is a form
which underlies many objects in

nature. It might, for instance,

suggest a study in natural

history, in the feline depart-

ment, when by putting in the

eyes we let the light in on it. And then, by taking

only slight liberties
with the triangular
shape, we develop a
study in the depart-
ment of ornithology

and when we add a head
and feet, we get the fig-
ure which ribald people
use as a simile for the
nagging wife — the Old
Hen. With certain alter-
ations to the head-piece,
we may work out a pro-
position which Euclid
overlooked, to demon-
strate the sad results
which ensue when an
acute angle comes into
matrimonial relations
with an obtuse one,

CHALK TALKS

47

Passing on, we come to the circle form, and it
is interesting to observe that some of the most
beautiful things in the floral domain are designed
on mathematical lines. The sunflower and the
daisy are a combination of circle and ovals, two
very simple figures, yet their combination results
in a thing of beauty.

Is there an aesthetic nature, a
soul of sensibility in this audience,
that can gaze upon this design with-
out a thrill of emotion at its essen-
tial beauty? Not one. It is a form
that has always made a powerful
appeal to the Art instinct, and it is not surpris-
ing that the sunflower is the favorite subject for
painting among the aspiring students of the young
ladies' college. Let me show you how that theme
is treated by the young lady usually. Over the
centre she puts a delicate pink tint,
and the surrounding ovals are done
in a fashionable shade of mauve. If
anybody remarks that there never
was a sunflower in the world colored
like that, she probably replies that
the Modernist School aspires to im-
proving on nature, so she adds a
lifelike stalk and equally lifelike
leaves and then she, so to speak,
plants the flower in a beautiful jar-
dinier of classic design, and there

48

CHALK TALKS

you have a finished work of art that thrills the
pulses of all who look upon it — if they are any
relation to the artist who produced it.

Is there any captious critic here who shakes his
head and says he can't make anything of it? Well,
it seems to me that with the exercise of a little
imagination we can make something very charm-
ing of it; we can bring a daughter flower out of
the sun flower — the flower of the family — I mean
the gifted che-ild so many families possess in the

form of the little girl
who is a born and in-
spired Elocutionist,
and who, when there is
company present, am-
azes all the guests with
her wonderful render-
ing of " Little Orphant
Annie ' ', though she
never had a lesson in
her life. Here she is
with her bangs and
side tresses and soulful eyes — the joy and pride
of the household.

To add one more illustration from the mathe-
matical domain, it is obvious that if we take a num-
ber of these geometrical forms and throw them
together at random we can hardly fail to get a
suggestion for a picture. I set down, say, an oval
a cube, a triangle, an angle, a curve, and a couple

CHALK TALKS

49

of parallel lines, and it only requires
a casual glance to see that here is an
opportunity for a tribute to the Sis-
ter Art of Music.
We have here mani-
festly the " makings
of a singer". It is
only necessary to
connect u p these
forms and to fill in
some detail, includ-
ing the abundant
hair which is so characteristic,
and finally put in what we may
call the musical features of the
occasion.

The more familiar department of Mathematics
known as Arithmetic is not usually associated with
picture-making, though it is, of course, a figurative
subject. The Arithmetical figures are, however,
so adaptable that even the fractions lend them-
selves to pictorial purposes. It will be remem-
bered that during the local option campaigns in
Ontario a great deal of dissatisfaction was ex-
pressed by the Temperance people over what they
regarded as a very vulgar fraction known as the
"Three-fifths requirement" — written of
course in this way — Their contention was that
this provision of the law helped the liquor
party to steal municipalities that were really

50

CHALK TALKS

in favor of Prohibition. Ac-
cording to this view the
"true inwardness" of the
Three-fifths can be elucid-
ated pictorially in this way.
Let us proceed from the
field of Mathematics into
that of Etymology, and we
find that some of the common
nouns of our language are—
at least when written down
in certain ways — self ex-
planatory to the observant
eye. Here for example is the word Coon.
I should suppose an intelligent foreigner
though he understood no English, would
be able to tell the meaning of that word
from its personal appearance. He would see the
colored person hidden in it. The development
may be appropriately made to the accompaniment
of a coon-song which was originally written for
the admonition of delinquent husbands — a very
worthy purpose. I recall something of the air but
I will have to improvise the words as I go along :
A lazy coon, — you will see him soon—
With his frowsy air and his coat thread bare,
And his trousers worn, all shabby an ' torn,
Much de wuss for wear (though his Sunday pair).
His feet don't show 'cause dey're in de snow,
He was forced to go from his bungalow

CHALK TALKS 51

For his wife rose up an ordered

it so,

She opened de do' an' said —
I've opened de do' fo' you to go
Out in de rain an ' de hail an ' de

snow

Out whar de stormy win's do
blow

O-o-o, my!
Koun de house you ain't a bit

o' good
^ You wouldn't light de fire or

carry in de wood
You needn't stay to reason yo' excuse is out o'
season

Jes' kiss yo'self good by!

Time is passing and we must hasten on to touch
briefly on some other fields of thought. And speak-
ing of fields let us pause a mo-
ment to consider Horticulture
—the pictorial possibilities of
fruit, let us say. Here then, is
an apple and a pear.

As they have something of the contour
of human faces they can readily be put to
figurative use as specimens of the fruit of the
drink traffic.

And then, descending into the more humble

52

CHALK TALKS

sphere of
the vege-
table, sup-
p o s e we
take our
old friend
the potato,
sometimes
affection-
ately called

the spud. I sometimes think that this
would have been a more happily chosen
emblem of Quid Ireland than that more
fanciful vegetable the shamrock. I pro-
ceed to show that it would fit the case
better and look the part at
least of the proverbial stage-
Irishman, who, however, is
said to be a purely imagin-
ary being.

From Horticulture it is an
easy transition to Flori-
culture, and I desire to
place before you the
'flower which the
Scotch, with in-
fallible judgment adopted as their
emblem. If there is really a language
of flowers, the Thistle certainly says,
"Wha daur meddle wi' me"? and it

CHALK TALKS

53

is easy to bring out Its
innate resemblance to the
typical Scot.

To pay our respects to
the Englishman in due
order we must pass from
the Vegetable Kingdom
to that ruled by her majesty the cook, the King-
dom of Domestic Science, and I have pleasure in
placing before you a plum pudding; one of my
own making and & little underdone, perhaps, but
I hope recognizable. This dish is usually associ-
ated with Old England, and I think it
has really a more striking suggestion of
the Englishman in it than there is in his
official emblem, the rose. I have in mind,
not Vere de Vere of the upper classes,
but Hodge, the farm hand. I select Hodge for the
honor because he gets less than justice from his
own countrymen, who are in the habit of pictur-
ing him as a phenomenal numbskull, and besides
his face fits better into the design, as you see.
The element of interest
in all these studies (I
hope there has been some)
is the human nature in
them. That is the one
universally interesting
theme. As the poet has
said — "The proper study

54

CHALK TALKS

of mankind is man", and I need hardly remind
you that man embraces woman.

Any study of human nature must recognize the
fundamental fact of sex: — that men and women
are different, not that they are op-
posite in any militant sense. They
are differently endowed, and yet now-
adays the outer difference is not so
great, especially if we consider some
varieties to be found in
high society.

Here for example is
Algy, a most popular
young man at all the
pink-tea functions. I take
him as he poses at the door of the
club.

Now, it is unnecessary to make a
separate design of
his counterpart of
the feminine per-
suasion. The same general ground
work will suffice; only a slight
modification of the head-piece,
the hair and the skirt is required
— as thus.

But now it is time to bring
this learned discourse to a close,
and to be in the fashion we must
do so with the exhibition of a
moving-picture. An appropri-

CHALK TALKS

55

ate subject for the scenario will be a gentle-
man in the act of retiring, and here you have
him.

It may interest you to see
how moving pictures are
made; the process is really
very simple. Here we have
a picture which is static. Now
a gentleman couldn't well re-
tire without turning round,
and he certainly couldn't turn
round without moving. To
make the picture move, then, all
we have to do is to bring the
back of his head to the front
with a touch of black chalk.

EDUCATION
A CHALK-TALK FOR SCHOOLS.

{{MTMIE Boy is Father of the man."

This is a quotation from one of the
poets, which you may have heard often ;
and perhaps you have thought it a topsy-turvey
statement. You may have been puzzled to see
how it is possible, as a boy is always younger
than a man. And yet many of the truest things
that have ever been said are false and ridiculous
if you take them literally. This is a case in point.
While, as a matter of fact, the man is father of
the boy; it is a most important truth in reality
that the Boy is always Father of the Man. It is
this truth that makes Education such a vital thing.
For, of course, what it means is that every boy
has entrusted to him the making of a man. The
man you are to be in the future is going to be
the kind of man you make him; nobody else can
interfere with your job. It is just as though you
had full charge of a lump of clay to shape it as
you saw fit. Everybody knows that a boy grows,
and growth means constant change. I might
make a picture to represent what one of you boys
looks like to-day — as thus,

CHALK TALKS

57

may

for

have

A few years from now you
won 't look a bit like this. When
yon are 20 your nose will per-
haps be somewhat more shapely
and you will have grown a
moustache. You will also have
taken to wearing stand-up col-
lars and probably an eye-glass.
At fifty you will look entirely
different. By that time your
hair may have disappeared on

the crown, your eyeglass
have been exchanged
spectacles, and you will
grown a full beard. You would
scarcely recognize yourself.

Well, it isn't only the face and
figure of a boy which changes
with the years. There is a cor-
responding change in his mind
and character. The old adage

says, "As the twig is bent the

tree inclines." And if the man

you are at fifty is a noble type of

man, a specimen of " a sane mind

in a sound body," a man who is

a good citizen whom everybody

honors and loves, and who wields

a wholesome influence in the

community — it will be because

that is the sort of man you have

58

moulded out of the clay you now have in your
hands. Of course, what I say to the boys applies
just as much to the girls, and I want every boy
and girl here to think of the great responsibility
that is resting upon each one of them. Really,
there is no statesman or leader in the country who
has a more important task than that of forming
the character of a man or woman of the future.
That task you can't escape, and you have to per-
form it yourself alone. You may receive good
advice and earnest guidance, but it is for you to
say whether or not you will act accordingly. This
is one of the cases in which there is real meaning
and very serious meaning in the expression — It is
Up to You!

The making of this future man or woman is what
we call education. Perhaps you have thought that
a dry word, which only refers to arithmetic,

, geometry, geography, sci-
ence and so forth; that it
only stands for the ring-
ing of the school bell,
classes, tasks, home-work
and examinations. It may
be that some of you
have occasionally asked,
''What's the use of edu-
cation, anyway?"

"Well, let me answer that
question with a picture.
Here is a boy who be-

CHALK TALKS

59

longs to the baseball nine. He prides himself on
being the Babe Ruth of the team — the greatest
slugger with the bat. Now let us suppose that
there is a great match being played and it has
come to the last innings with the score even and
the bases all full. It just requires a good safe hit
to bring in the winning run, and this boy goes to
the bat. What would be the result, do you think,
if he went to bat with a switch instead of a club !
Everybody would suppose he must be "off his
base." but that is exactly like the boy who goes
into the game of life without an education. The
purpose of education is to fit you for service. It
is giving you a good stout club instead of a switch
to face the pitcher with.

v Or we might take an
illustration from war
time. Here is a chap who
enlisted in a regiment.
He had a hard time to
get by the recruiting of-
ficer, because he was so
slouchy. But when the
regiment marched away
after a few months drill
that lad was one of the
straightest and best look-
ing soldiers in the com-
pany. This was the re-
sult of drill — physical education.
Man is made up of three great divisions and so

60

CHALK TALKS

education must be a three-fold process. Let me
make a picture of a boy to show these divisions :
/ 1. The Body, the whole

frame from head to foot:
..-•x — Physical.

2. The Head, which is sup-
posed to contain the brain,
which is the seat of the
mind : — Mental.

3. The heart, which is
supposed to be the seat of
the affections, feelings, de-
sires, ideals : — Moral.

That is, Body, Mind and
Heart must all be educated
together to make a fully rounded man or woman.
So, after the manner of the preacher, we have
three heads for our discourse.

FIRSTLY, SECONDLY AND THIRDLY.

First — Physical Education.

That a sound, healthy body is desirable re-
quires no argument.
The one who is con-
demned to the bod
of the invalid is ter-
ribly handicapped
in life, though there
have been many
cases in which per-
sons so situated

CHALK TALKS

61

have exerted a wide influence for good through
graces of heart and mind. Others, like the his-
torian, Parkman, have performed wonderful intel-
lectual labors", though physically almost helpless.
Most of us have naturally a fair degree of good
health, and the best way to improve and increase
it is to take exercise; regular calisthenic and
athletic exercise, or wholesome out-door play. I
need not urge the duty of play, for this is one of
the duties which boys and girls are always willing
to perform. Out-door games are the best sort of
physical exercise, and a strong body is like a
strong horse. It will carry you through life, and
enable you to make the most of your powers of
mind and character.

When I say play, of course I mean play your-
self, and not by proxy. There are many thous-
ands of people nowa-
days who play baseball
only with their mouths,
sitting on the grand
stand and giving in-
structions to the play-
ers and the umpire. The
only exercise they get is
for their lungs and
throat. It does them
no more good than eat-
.... ing the peanuts and ice

cream cones they buy.
Speaking of eating, it may be well to warn some

62

CHALK TALKS

boys that good health does not depend on the

amount a person eats. They are mistaken if they

suppose that the

fattest boy is always

the healthiest boy.

Make it a rule

always to leave the

table feeling as if

you would like just

a little more.

While I am on the
subject of physical
education I want to
point out the great
importance of train-
ing your hands —
to learn by doing

things. If it is possible learn the rudiments of
some mechanical trade. Boys sometimes leave
school without any definite aim or plan, and they
often get into a blind alley of employment, like
selling papers or running errands. There is

no prospect in
such employ-
ment. Learn to
do something.
Notice the dif-
ference it
makes.

Here is an
old employer

CHALK TALKS

63

who has advertised for a boy to do a certain kind
of work and here is an applicant for the job.
Notice the stern expression on the old gentle-
man's face. He is asking the question — Do you
know how? And this boy has to say, "No, sir, I
never learned to use my hands." "Then, you
won't do," is likely to be the answer.

How different the case of the next applicant,
who is able to hold up his head and say "Yes,
sir — I know I
can do your
work. I Ve
never done it
before but I
have got train-
ed fingers and
I'll soon pick
it up."

"Ah!" says the employer, "You are the sort
of boy I am looking for!"

No matter what you intend to go in for,
manual training is a great thing for every boy
and girl.

Now let us pass on to Secondly — Mental
Education.

The cultivation of the mind. This is also ac-
complished chiefly through exercise — exercise of
the brain, reading, memorizing, ciphering and
thinking — especially thinking of what you are
doing, whatever it may be — keeping your atten-
tion fixed upon it.

64

CHALK TALKS

It is necessary to learn a great many facts
about history, geography, literature, etc., and to
learn many rules of arithmetic, grammar and so
on, but the purpose of all this is the training of the
mind. It is not, as boys and girls often seem to
think, a mere matter of pour-
ing facts into their minds as
if the school were a funnel
through which Education
was ladled into their heads.
No, your mind is a sword
you will need to use in the
battle of life, and education
is the power you get to
handle that sword promptly
and skillfully, and not only
for yourself, but for others
— in short to serve your day
and generation.

It is a fine thing to have a great mass of knowl-
edge, but I think the man who knows much more
than his neighbors but keeps his knowledge to
himself is a mean sort of character after all. Such
a man has not educated his heart,
and that is the point we come to
as

Thirdly — Moral Education

This is the most important of
all,because character is the great-
est thing about a man or
woman, and the human
heart is naturally prone

CHALK TALKS

65

to evil. It requires an effort to form good habits,

but bad ones form themselves. It is easy to slide

down hill, morally as well as literally ; so we can

make an allegory of the

coasting game. Here is

a boy on a sled at the

top of a steep hill, and

all he needs is a start. 4

If it is a hill of bad- **

habit, such as drink,

the end of the course is

a ruined character that

may be represented by

the figure of the typical

sot.

To avoid bad habits

and to form and prac-
tice good ones is the work of moral education, and

here again the matter is left in your own hands.

You are the master of
your own destiny.
Bfei There is only one boy
in the world who can do
you real harm, and that
boy you can see in any
looking-glass. Nobody
can form a bad habit
for you but yourself.
We get to the root of
the matter when we get
at the heart. Out of the

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CHALK TALKS

heart are the issues of life, and a pure heart de-
voted to unselfish service is the assurance of a
noble character, and that is the crowning glory of
all education. Train your bodies, cultivate your
minds, and devote your hearts to what is good and
true and beautiful.

The one perfect life that was ever lived in this
, world was a life of service.
It is described in the
phrase " bearing t h e
C£oss_" and the cross is
suggested in the form of a
man who stands with out-
stretched arms. Let that
be the symbol of service
to all about you — your
hands being held out as if
in sympathy and blessing
to others. That, after all
is the only way in which we can serve God, by
serving our fellowmen.

SANTA CLAUS AND MOTHER GOOSE
A CHALK TALK FOR THE LITTLE FOLK.

WHEN the Christmas season
comes round, there are two
names which little Boys and
Girls always think of. One is that
of a grand old man and the other that
of a beloved old woman. Of course, you know I
mean Santa Claus and Mother Goose.

Santa Claus travels all round the world at
Christmas time, flying through the air — not with
an aeroplane, but with a big red sleigh drawn by a
team of reindeer, and loaded with Christmas trees
and bags of toys, sweets and other nice things.
He lights on the roofs of houses where good little
children live, and comes down the chimney and
fills the stockings which are hanging on the
mantelshelf with delightful gifts, and then he
sneaks into the parlor and sets up a beautiful
evergreen tree that bears dolls and toys and can-
dies instead of fruit.

Everybody knows what Santa Claus looks like.
He is a big, jolly-looking old fellow, with a body

67

68

CHALK TALKS

as round as the world itself. To make a picture
of him I only need to put on one hand to hold the
tree and one to hold the gift-bag; and then the
skirt of his coat below the belt, and then his feet.

So there we have him all complete excepting the
head. But before we put on his head we must put
on his cap, because he is bald, and might catch cold.

He has two very
bright eyes and two
very rosy cheeks and
one very red nose, so
we must put them all
in, and the rest of
him is just whiskers.
Santa Glaus doesn't
spend any money in
barber- shops ; he
wants it all to buy
presents, you see.
When we put on his white whiskers, why, there he
is, sure enough.

Well, next I must make you a picture of Mother
Goose. I never saw her, but I suppose she looked
like the rest of the Goose family, and so she has
a long bill and a round eye.

Of course she wore a Mother Hat — the same as
Mother Hubbard — and a sort of tippet which float-
ed out behind her as she flew through the air. But

CHALK TALKS

69

Mother Goose didn't
travel with a sled and
reindeer. Somewhere
we are told,
''When she wanted to

wander

She rode through the
air on a very fine
gander ' '.

But generally speak-
ing she used a broom
stick and as an old-
fashioned lady of course she rode it side-saddle
fashion. But, although her name was Goose, she
was a woman, not a bird, so she had human feat-
ures although I don't think they were what you
could call pretty. Probably something like this:

Now, children, I
wish you to under-
stand that I came this
evening by command
of Santa Glaus and
Mother Goose to en-
tertain you for a little
while. Santa wishes
tne to do some picture
tricks for you, and
Mother Goose sug-
gests that I show
some of the charac-

70

CHALK TALKS

ters from her Nursery Bhymes,. which I'm sure

many of you know off by heart.

So, to begin with, I will show how we get a

pig out of a snowball. First, you roll up a big

snowball like this: And then all at

once you see the pig's curly tail

sticking out of it, and then you

make a ring for the pig's nose,

and another bigger one for its

head, and then all you have to do is to put some
dots for its nostrils and its eyes,
put its ears on and then give it
some legs to stand on and there
you have the Pig out of the
Snowball.

I suppose you little folks are
learning to count and perhaps
you already know the figures

from one up to ten. But are

you aware that pictures can

be made out of figures, and

that the figures from 1 up

to 8 can be made to form a

portrait of the old School

Master who taught your

fathers and mothers to do

sums. Watch me as I put

down the figures, and then

pick them out — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

CHALK TALKS

71

Perhaps you think figures are rather dry, so let
us have some fruit instead — some nice juicy pears
— a pair of pears.

Boys and girls are fond of
pears, and so are worms. Some-
times a worm gets hold of a pear
and starts to eat it up — a big fat
worm like this. There are two
ways in which you could save the
pear from the worm. The first
is to kill the worm, and the next
is to have the pear turn into a cat and fool the
worm. I think that is the best way, so now please
watch this pear while it becomes a cat. The worm
will do very well for the cat's tail, so all we have
to do is to put on its head and ears and legs, and
there we have the Cat that makes such a noise on

our back fence at night.
And this other pear is
another cat, or perhaps
its the same one in the day
time when it sits in the
so mild and sweet
you would not believe

,rl£' '" '^ * " "'^^BSsSSSw^*"^

x3u, it ever disturbed the neigh-

bors ' rest at all.

There is one neighbor the cat does not like at
all, and that is the especially our dog

"Spot". He's a v O O terrible fellow af-
ter cats. That is a picture of "Spot" chasing a

72

CHALK TALKS

cat. You say you don't see anything but the letters

D-O-G — but you will when I put the outline on it.

First I put a hind leg on the ^

G and a tail; and then some <^

front legs and a head and *^

body. The o is the dog's

name — "Spot".
A lot of pictures can be made with letters of the

alphabet. Here, for instance, is the word Cook,
and that can be easily turned into a por-
trait of Cook just when she is about to
get dinner ready.
The letter 0 is something

the shape of a boy's face,

and so I might set down half

a dozen O's to represent the

different kinds of boys in a

class, making their features

out of letters. The first one

is the A-boy. He comes first

in the class and so he has a

stuck-up look ; the E-boy has

a smiling expression ; the
i-boy has wide-open eyes
and looks full of interest ;
the o-boy is surprised all
the time and seems to be
saying Oh! The U-boy
and the V-boy have a
modest, downcast look,

CHALK TALKS

73

but I am sure they are good boys and would not
put crooked pins on the teacher's seat.

So let us now pass on to the subject of eggs,
because I am sure you are all interested in Chick-
ens and would like to see how a chick is hatched
out of an egg.

First, let us take a couple of
eggs. We must be sure they are
good fresh eggs, so we must ex- |^
amine them. If when we hold the
egg up to the light it looks like
this, it is good; but if it looks like this it is bad.
So now we take the good one and put it in the incu-
bator where it is nice and
warm, and pretty soon
we see its tail stick out
and then its head and its
wings and -its legs and'
there is the chicken
-sag* I hatched.

lh«MMMMB)INIMM0MMMM*ttMM«!

But now Mother Goose says it's time I should
make some nursery-rhyme pictures, and we may
begin with one of that funny fellow who was called
Simple Simon. I think I can make his
picture out of the letters of his name.

You remember some of the silly things

I

O

this simple fellow did, don't you?
of them was this :

One

74

CHALK TALKS

"He washed his face in blacking

Because he had no soap,
And then unto his mother said :
I 'm a beauty now, I hope ! ' '
And he must have been a
beauty for I suppose he looked
like this:

Then, you
remember, he

went fishing one day. What
does the rhyme say about that?
"Simple Simon went a fishing

For to catch a whale,
But all the water he had got
Was in his mother's pail".

Well, here he is hard at
work waiting to get a nibble,
and here we will leave him
as we haven't time to wait
till he catches a whale there.
Let us pass on to another
Iboy you all know — "Tom,
Tom the piper's son". He
had more sense than Simple
Simon, and I believe he
never stole a pig at all. Sensible boys don't steal
pigs or anything else. And yet children all over
the world have been for years repeating the words
Tom Tom the Piper's son,
Stole a pig and away he run.

CHALK TALKS

75

The pig was eat and Tom was beat,
And he went crying down the street.
I am sure Tom didn't steal the pig, because it

was a great big one
like this and Tom
was a wee little
chap. I believe the
truth is that Tom
was playing on the
road when the pig
came along rooting
with its snout, and it happened to come behind
Tom while he was hunkering down and just gave
him a toss up in the air with its nose and so as he
came down he alighted on the pig's back, like this,
and then the pig ran
away with him — so
that is how the pig
stole Tom.

Having set the
matter right about
Tom we may next
pass on to another
of Mother Goose's
little boys. I'm sure everybody knows the Rhyme
about Little Jack Horner. Let us repeat it all
together —

Little Jack Horner

Sat in a corner

Eating his Christmas pie,

76

CHALK TALKS

He put in his thumb

And pulled out a plum

And said, what a good boy am II

Now it doesn't take very
long to make a picture of little
Jack sitting in the corner ; we
only have to draw his head,
his hands and his feet, be-
cause all the rest of the space
is filled up by the Pie. But
what about pulling out the
plum by putting in his thumb f Don't you think he
should have used a spoon? I'm sure his mother
would have been quite
vexed by such an exhibi-
tion of bad manners as
that, and I think the
verse ought to be —
" Pulled out a plum and
said, what a rude boy |
ami!"

But all these Ehymes have been about boys.
Where do the little girls come in, for of course
Mother Goose has many pet girlies, too, Little
Bo Peep, Mary Mary Quite Contrary, Little Miss
Muffett and others. But we have not time to pic-
ture any of them. However, I am going to close
with a Ehyme about a little girl who came out of a
Toadstool. This is not a Mother Goose Ehyme
but one I made up myself just specially for you.

CHALK TALKS

77

Here is a picture of the Toadstool.
This Toadstool could talk, as you
will see.

A Toadstool once grew in a field

And cried ' ' 0 dear, 0 dear,
I wish I was a little girl

Instead of growing here ;
For little girls are pretty

And run and laugh and play,
While I am just a Toadstool

And here I have to stay.

So bye and bye a Fairy came

And waved her wand and said,
"I'll make a body for you

With arms and face and head;
I'll give you pretty features,

And hair that has a curl,
I '11 change your shank to two nice legs

So, there — Your 're now a girl!"

So, boys and girls, that will be all for the pre-
sent. You are now excused.

WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

MISS DOROTHY DIX, whose wit is almost
as great as if she were a man, is of opin-
ion that ''Nothing but a want of a sense
of humor has made possible the spectacle we see
in the world of government divided along the line
of sex; a division founded on the idea that a
human being who happens to be born male is
superior to another human being who happens
to be born female, and so is entitled to exclusive
control of public affairs." That powers of govern-
ment should be reserved for those who are fit to
exercise them is reasonable enough, but that the
boundary which divides off this competent class
should be the line of sex is certainly a grotesque
idea. It would be as reasonable that the division
should be in accordance with the color of hair or
size of feet. And yet the sex-line idea still persists
and is still accepted seriously by intelligent men—
and even by some women — in this twentieth cen-
tury. Yes, seriously. I will endeavor to convey in
a facial expression here the solemnity with which
it is regarded. This countenance illustrates what
is meant by a "want of the sense of humor." The
ridiculousness of excluding one half the race
from a share in the duties and privileges of gov-
ernment because it is female has not yet dawned

78

CHALK TALKS

79

on the mind of this thinker.
But that is because he
hasn't yet really thought
on the subject. He only
thinks he is thinking. Like
many others he has just
absorbed the prevalent
opinion. But that opinion
has of late been crumbling
away before intelligent en-
quiry and discussion, and
in every progressive land it
is coming to be recognized that it cannot any
longer be seriously held. The sense of humor
seems to be awakening, and there is an increasing
tendency to regard the sex-line idea with a more
appropriate expression of face — more like this:

Of course there must
be a line marking the
limits of the franchise
in every rational coun-
try. It cannot be abso-
lutely universal. It is
right and necessary
that infants, idiots and v
incarcerated prisoners
should be excluded, but
why should women be
put in this unfit cate-
gory any more than, let us say, fair-haired men?
There must be a line, but it ought to be a hori-

80

CHALK TALKS

zontal line; our error has been heretofore to
adopt a perpendicular line. Let me illustrate
what I mean. I suggest first the fundamental fact
of sex by picturing a man and a woman. This is
the duality that -runs through the whole of anim-
ated nature, and it implies only diversity, dif-
ference; it does not
imply superiority or
inferiority. The sexes
are not rivals or
antagonists, but com-
plements of each
other. But by this
perpendicular line in
government we have
separated them, reserving all authority to the
man and excluding the woman from participation.
We have gone on the assumption that government
is a matter of male concern, but in reality it is a
matter of human concern, and the only question
is — Is woman a human being as much as man?
When the lyric poets describe her as an angel
they are indulging in poetic license, but that
doesn't aid the cause of one-sex government
because on scriptural authority man was made a
little lower than the angels, not a little higher.
No; the perpendicular line cannot be justified;
and being unjust it is contrary to the best in-
terests of society in the matter of good govern-
ment. We need to include in the franchise all the
resources of wisdom and judgment of the com-

CHALK TALKS 81

munity, the intellectual, moral and spiritual forces
of our common humanity, and so the dividing
line should be a horizontal one, running through
the adult citizenship just below the chin of the in-
dividual citizen. That would be to measure your
citizenship on the Welsh method, as indicated by
the British, premier. Some rude fellow made a
remark in a public meeting about Lloyd George's
smallness of stature. "In Wales," retorted Mr.
George, "-we don't measure people from the chin
down, but from the chin up." Measured in that
fashion Lloyd George is pretty tall ; and the aver-
age woman compares very favorably with the
average man. By the horizontal line of the
franchise we would include all the best brains of
the community whether they happened to be in
male or female heads.

Speaking of horizontal and perpendicular lines
suggests geometry. I don't happen to know what
Mr. Euclid's views were on equal franchise,
though I should infer from his assertion that
"the whole is greater than a part" he must have
been opposed to the principle of one-sex govern-
ment. The man who believes in that theory
virtually asserts that in the sphere of human
rights the half is equal to the whole, and if the
demonstration of this problem followed the
Euclidean method it would proceed somewhat in
this way :

82

CHALK TALKS

Describe the circle A B
C D. Let the line A C be
the diameter.

Let the circle A B C D be
the sphere of human rights,
of which the arc A B C is
male and the arc A D C is
female.

Proposition - - That the
arc A B C is equal to the whole circle A B C D.
Demonstration. The arc ABC, being male,
contains within its limits all the power and
authority of Government ; it therefore follows that
the arc A D C is without such power and author-
ity. But that which has no power and authority
must amount to nothing, and that which amounts
to nothing cannot amount to anything. But the
possession of political rights is something, there-
fore the female arc ADC cannot possess political
rights. And since the whole circle A B C D does
possess political rights and such rights are not

possessed by the female arc
ADC, therefore, the male
arc ABC must possess all
the political rights of the
whole circle A B C D, but
that which possesses all the
rights of the whole circle
must be equal to the whole
circle — therefore, the arc
A B C is equal to the whole

CHALK TALKS

83

circle A B C D. Quod erat demonstrandum.
This demonstration seems conclusive, but per-
haps there is a fallacy lurking in it somewhere.
I may, however, make use of the diagram to prove
another proposition — though not on Euclid lines
—viz., that man has certainly monopolised all the
governmental power, and has thus displayed a
hoggish disposition.

The Woman Movement is an inevitable part of
the progress of humanity toward Democracy. In
all countries, whether they be now ruled by Kings
or Presidents, the ideal is Democracy. But that
ideal lias not yet been achieved in any land that
has not equal franchise. Democracy is based on
the consent of the governed, and repudiates the
injustice of taxation without representation. Con-
Bent of the governed means their participation in
the government. A government of the people by
the people for the people means all the competent
people ; and if, as Abraham Lincoln said, a nation
cannot exist half slave and half free — it cannot
enjoy real
justice with its
people half en-
franchisee! and
half disfranch-
ised.

A good pur-
pose might be
served, perhaps,
if the Cartoon-

84

CHALK TALKS

ists when they picture the typical representatives
of the nations, would set them forth in accordance
with the fact of the lop-sided system of govern-
ment that now exists.

Uncle Sam and John Bull, for instance, with
one eye, one ear, one arm and one leg each would
be more accurate though less pleasing figures — it
would be a truthful representation of the systems
which ignore one half the citizens in the conduct
of the affairs of the nation.

A realization of the absurdity and injustice of
one-sex government is making rapid progress in
the world. Equal suffrage has in fact been estab-
lished by law not only in many of the new and pro-
gressive communities but also in such staid old
countries as Great Britain. The caricature of the
11 Strong-minded Female" — this sort of picture

that was considered so
funny in the days of the
humorist Artemus Ward
has lost all its point, be-
cause it is recognized now
not to be true. A cartoon
to carry any weight or in-
fluence must have the elem-
ent of truth in it, whatever
else it may lack. I doubt
if the picture of the "blue
stocking ' ' — the vociferous
and pugnacious woman who wanted to be a man
ever had any real existence outside the heads of

CHALK TALKS 85

irresponsible funny men. The quality which dis-
tinguished the suffrage leaders from the first was
unusual intelligence combined with a desire to
promote the best interests of humanity. This is
not the material out of which freaks and oddities
are made.

There are two general divisions to this subject
of Equal Franchise.

1. Is Woman Suffrage just and right?

2. Is it expedient and desirable?

1. I think an affirmative answer may be taken
as granted all round. If it is admitted that Gov-
ernment is a human concern and that women is
just as human as man, all the rest follows.

The fact that woman is different from man
mentally and morally as well as physically is not
an argument against her enfranchisement, but, in
a representative system, a conclusive argument
for it.

Nor is there any weight in the argument as to
the unfitness of individual types of women; this
applies equally to the corresponding types of men.

It is true there are classes of men and women
who care nothing at all for such matters as
citizenship, and it is a pity. But I think it is still
more pitiful to find intelligent women who go to
the trouble and expense of organizing to prevent
justice to their sex. They are working hard in
''Societies opposed to Votes for Women." I can-
not conceive any justification for this, unless they
can bring forth proof that the enfranchisement of

86 CHALK TALKS

women would be wrong and evil, and so far as I
know they have not attempted such proof. They
are "opposed to votes for women" and leave it to
be inferred that in their opinion the securing of
the vote is all there is to the Suffrage Movement,
whereas it is merely one of the details. The Wo-
man Movement, I repeat, is a great note of World-
Evolution for the achievement of true democracy.
I It is a movement for the emancipation of one half
the race from disabilities of age-long continuance,
to recognition in a full-orbed civilization. The
ballot is only the symbol of true citizenship, and
the underlying truth is that the State not less than
the home, needs the co-operation of both sexes.
Opposition to the realization of this on the part of
women is something I find as hard to understand
as the conduct of a captive who "hugs his chains."
To speak of captives and chains in this connec-
tion is quite justifiable. Mrs. Jos. Fels in her
recent book says :

' * The whole course of history from savagery to
the present day displays women, in the mass, as
sunk in more or less profound servitude. It is
part of the masculine constitution to be inherently
disinclined to work. Primitive man was largely
concerned with war and the chase . . . the hard
and patient labor has always fallen to the lot of
women. ' '

I interrupt the quotation to supply an illustra-
tion from our own aboriginal natives. The Indian
was not a believer in Equal Suffrage. He did not

CHALK TALKS

87

allow the squaw to
have a vote at the
council-fire, but when
they were moving
camp he allowed her
to carry everything
by acclamation.

"Under modern
conditions of civil-
ization," Mrs. Fels goes on, "this relationship
has remained unaltered. Apart from household
activity, which is taken for granted, women con-
stitute an increasingly larger proportion of pro-
ductive labor in industry; this labor is alloted to
her as a class and always distinguished as being
underpaid. Work of quality and quantity equal to
that performed by men receives, when carried on
by women, a lower scale of pay. The one effective
mode of righting the balance is to have a voice in
the conduct of affairs. Here then, is a basis for a
demand for the suffrage — for emancipation."
So far as I am aware, the main argument of the
— \ Anti-Suffragists is based on
considerations of women's
delicate physical structure.
"Women's sphere is the
home,"-— it is therefore un-
becoming in her to be a fac-
tor outside of her dwelling.
It is an interesting study in
consistency to observe that

f

88 CHALK TALKS

the Anti speakers travel far and wide to proclaim
this doctrine. This is worthy of being set down
in chalk.

And the lecture this inconsistent lady delivers
is notable for the inconsistencies of its arguments.
I have a high respect for feminine brains and no
doubt the Anti ladies are endowed with them, but
to argue against a self evident truth is too much
of a task for any man or woman. Hence we find
that the customary Anti speech takes the form of
a series of mutually contradictory arguments
which may be condensed in this way.

1. Woman wouldn't vote is she had the ballot
(but) she would neglect her home and spend all
her time in politics.

2. Women would vote just as their husbands do
(but) political differences would disrupt the
family.

3. Voting would take the bloom off womanhood
(but) they would be more corrupt than men.

4. Women cannot understand politics (but)
they would become regular political bosses.

5. Women have the cat nature and cannot
organize, (but) they would make trouble by
organizing against the men.

6. The vote is not worth striving for (besides)
men have the vote and we look up to them.

7. Association with men in politics will de-
moralize women, (though) association in the ball
room is in no way harmful.

8, Woman does not need any weapon except her

CHALK TALKS

89

moral influence (though) politicians don't pay any
attention to anything but votes in the ballot boxes.

Of course the Antis are right about woman's \/
sphere being the home. That in reality is the con-
clusive reason for her emancipation; and the
reason for an affirmative reply to the second
question — Is suffrage expedient and desirable?

The home is and always will be woman's special
domain, but the home is the foundation of the
State. In this day and age the home needs the
support and protection of the ballot. "What the
woman of to-day is attempting either blindly or \
consciously is not revolt or revolution, but the con-
servation of her share in the work of the world —
the conservation of the home," says a recent
thoughtful writer.

"Woman's sphere" to-day as the director and V
conservator of the home, is her responsibility for
the vital matters of food, clothing, education and
health, but it happens that the work of the home
is now chiefly done outside the dwelling.

I picture Woman's sphere
as being her special charge v
over the four spheres just
named as pertaining to the
home. These vital matters
are now regulated by laws
which deal with factories,
creameries, dairies, canneries,
mills, public schools, and
health departments, and to

90 CHALK TALKS

exercise her due influence she must be equipped
with the powers of citizenship whose symbol is
the ballot.

And apart from merely local and domestic mat-
ters, she must have a vote and influence in the
great issues of the State, most of which so intim-
ately concern the home. In short, to occupy her
acknowledged sphere, she must be equipped with
the rights and powers of full citizenship.

The homemakers pre-eminently are the wives,
who are now in some places discriminated against
even where widows and unmarried women with
property are permitted to vote. This justified
the popular parody, which ran as follows :

Everybody votes but mother.
She used to vote once, too,
But when she got married to father

The law said it wouldn't do.
When mother was just a spinster
Like my spectacled sister Ann,
She had a right to the ballot,
But alas she married a man.
Everybody votes but mother,

Father, Sister Ann and I,
My widowed aunt and my brother,
And mother wants to know why.

Everybody votes but mother,

'Cause mother she changed her name.

Looks as though somehow or 'nother
Getting married must be a shame.

CHALK TALKS 01

They take away votes from fellows

Who've been convicted in Court,
And it seems that spinsters who marry
Are bracketed with that sort!

So that's where they rank poor mother;
They've struck her name from the roll,
While sister and aunt and father
And I all go to the poll.

Everybody votes but mother

Through our stupid and senseless law,
And there's not on the list another

That needs the vote more than maw.
She cares for the home and the children,

And she has a good right to a say
On the laws that affect the household
In any possible way.

So we must have a vote for mother

Without waiting for dad to die,
For the wife as well as the widow
And spinster or we'll know why!

But this is primarily a man's question, for it is
by man's action that the emancipation of woman
must come ; and it ought to come not merely as a
matter of justice, but because experience has
proved that in the affairs of the nation "it is not
good for man to be alone."

The great wrongs of Society can never be over-
come by the one-armed, one-legged and one-brain-

92 CHALK TALKS

ed system of government. It must be confessed
that man has made a poor job of it. The world
in its economic topsy-turvyism is like the typical
bachelor's apartment. No man, without woman's
co-operation can make a real home ; and indeed no
woman can. either — not a real home, even though,
as has been suggested, she has a tidy on every
chair, a chimney that smokes and a parrot that
swears.

Look at the conditions: Countries that are
nominally free being made the prey of monopoly,
privileges and injustice, with such evil fruits as
the liquor traffic, white slavery, child labor and
abject poverty side by side with unimaginable
wealth. Man has been a failure as a housekeeper,
and it is high time that he took an equal partner—
the natural partner he should have had from the
first.

And the man voter is going to do this act of
emancipation. The reform is coming everywhere.
The opposition to it is not man : it is the stubborn-
ness of custom, the inertia of the rooted idea and
the slowness of the sense of humor. It has al-
ready come in happy spots here and there around
the world, and it is justifying itself as it spreads.
We are able to point to practical demonstrations
in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe,
and to assert with the confidence of actual ex-
perience that its blessings have been marked and
manifold, while on the other hand none of the
evils so loudly predicted have come to pass.

CHALK TALKS

93

The enfranch-
isement of woman
has meant every-
where the off-set-
ting of an elect-
oral element
largely evil by the
introduction of an
element largely
good. I picture the bane and the antidote.

A summary of the benefits secured would in-\ /
elude these, among other, results : It tends to in-
crease the native vote as against the f oreignT"

To increase the educated vote as against the
ignorant.

To increase the moral vote as against the
vicious.

To increase the interest of the men themselves
in public affairs.

To secure a better class of candidates and
hence a higher order of politics.

The sense of incompleteness and therefore of
imperfection must always attach to the figure of
a hemisphere and every just
mind must feel it in connection
with the constitution of society
where equal suffrage is absent.
And so I conclude with a design
of full-orbed humanity pre-
senting the figure of the circle,
which, as the symbol of perfec-

94 CHALK TALKS

tion, is I hope, a prophecy of the world of justice
and happiness that is to be.

To increase the harmony of the home by in-
creasing the mutual respect due to the equality of
privilege and dignity.

\J The infusion of woman's keener moral per-
ceptions and stronger spiritual ardor into states-
manship is what is needed to meet the perils of the
day, and to bring the triumph of the Cause of
Peace by securing the triumph of the Cause of
Justice. But will the average woman make a bet-
ter use of her franchise than the average man?
That is not the point. She is entitled to have her
ballot all the same — the question, as I have said,
is not merely "Votes for "Women", but freedom
and equality as human beings for one half the
race.

T

FEEE TRADE

HIS is a land of Freedom,
discourse on

Freedom of Speech,

Freedom of Worship,

Freedom of The Press,

Freedom of Thought,

Freedom of Movement,

and the citizen in general will respond with
hearty applause.

But let that orator include
in his category Freedom of
Trade and this is the expres-
sion he will produce on the
face of his auditors.

Free Trade is under the
ban. It is a sort of treason
to even mention it.

Protection is the sweet
and comforting word which
embodies the national faith. "Protection!"
Yet there is no braver people on earth than the
Canadians. This is not only the land of the
Free (barring Free Trade) but it is the home of
the Brave. The Canadian is pre-eminently able
to take care of himself, and he knows that the only

95

96

CHALK TALKS

classes that stand in
need of protection are
the unfortunate : —
The mained, the poor,
the blind, the sick, the
aged and the depen-
dent.

And yet this brave,
competent and re-
sourceful people say by their national tarriff
policy that they entertain the fear that unless
they are protected against the other nations of the
world, their country will be swamped and
destroyed!. Here is a great problem in
psychology !

Now, there is not a sane citizen alive who will
walk around a corner of a
vacant lot when he is in a
hurry, if there is no fence,
and there's a diagonal
footpath.

He would tell you that
any man who wouldn't
take advantage of the
short cut in such a case is
simply a Dub or a Chump.
He probably has never
taken time to consider why he acts in this way.
He would no doubt call it just plain horse-sense.
That's what it is, too, of course. But this com-
mon sense is based on a fundamental law of

CHALK TALKS 97

human nature — that unnecessary toil and trouble
are to be avoided ip the great matter of the mak-
ing of a living.

The American, the Canadian's next door neigh-
bor, is the great inventive genius of the world,
and the object of most of his ingenious con-
traptions is to save labor. They are mostly "cut
the corner" devices. Yet he is "dead set"
against Free Trade, too.

I should have expected the American to be the
very first man in the world to see and appreciate
the fact that

TRADE is THE GREATEST LABOR-SAVING DEVICE IN
EXISTENCE.

That, indeed, is its one great purpose. Only it
is not an invention, it is the natural outcome of the
fact that man is a trading animal. That is what
constitutes his humanity, and makes him the head
of Creation.

Trade, the short cut to a good living.

The ideal every intelligent man sets before him-
self as what he calls a successful life, is plenty of
good things to eat and wear, a comfortable and
well-furnished home to live in, and a reasonable
share of leisure, to enjoy the refinements of so-
ciety and to have a good time.

Well, as a matter of fact, how does he go about
accomplishing these ends?

Let me show you what he does not do.

CHALK TALKS

He does not confine himself in a little barbed
wire enclosure and undertake to make all his own
clothes, boots, furniture,
books, and everything else
he wants. If anybody sug-
gested to him that this was
the best method of reaching
his object, I would like to be
around to hear what he
would say to that party.

Oh, no! He acts on his
common sense and takes the
short cut to comfort. He has
no use for the protective philosophy. He devotes
himself to some one line of service or production,
sells his product, whatever it may be, to the best
advantage, and then buys the things he needs.
That is, he uses the labor saving device called
Trade, and what is more, he likes that Trade to
be -as free as possible. Let us look at the Ameri-
can. We may be able to see the truth more clearly
when it refers to the other fellow. His own
country is an immense stretch of territory, con-
taining a variety of climates and capable of pro-
ducing almost everything. It consists of some 48
sovereign States — or practically nations — with an
aggregate population of over 100,000,000 and
throughout this great expanse exchange of pro-
ducts is absolutely free. It would be interesting
to mark the fate of any crank who should arise in
Congress or the Senate to propose tariff walls

CHALK TALKS 99

around each of these States by way of improving
their prosperity.

I say the American citizen, accustomed all his
life to these conditions of liberty, ought by rights
to be the natural Free Trade leader of the race.
His statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World"
ought to hold up a torch which sent forth a mes-
sage of Freedom, Fraternity, Fellowship, Peace
on Earth, Good Will to Men ; and signalled to all
mankind — "Here is the land where a man's
inalienable right to life, through the exchange of
his products where and how he pleases, is the
heritage of every citizen!"

Yet, here is a queer thing in the case of this
intelligent and enterprising American trader — the
term 'rFree Trade" is poison to him!

The explanation of this is, I think, that he has
somehow got possessed of two or three notions
that have played hob with his reasoning powers.

What are these notions?

First, that though he has proved freedom of ex-
change to be a great blessing throughout the do-
main of the United States, it would instantly be-
come a disaster if it were extended any further.
There are human beings living North and South
of his boundary lines that have the same needs
of food, clothing, furniture, etc., that he has him-
self, but somehow he thinks that to trade freely
with them also would be the road to ruin.

Second, he has the idea that national boundary
lines have everything to do with Trade; that the

100

CHALK TALKS

country's Trade and the country's Flag are some-
way bound together.

Yet, of course, he has taken notice that the
migrating birds that go North and South every

year pay no attention
at all to boundary
lines, and that the
fish in the rivers pass
up and down without
any regard for these
things whatever.

If he stopped for a
moment to think, he
would see that the birds and fishes are guided by
a law analagous to the law of trade in the human
race. In other words, that the instinct for
migrating and flying in a bird, or of swimming in
a fish, is the same as the instinct for trading in a
man. These are natural impulses and they have
no relation whatever to the work of Statesmen at
Washinton or Ottawa who contrive such artificial
things as boundary lines and may shift them
around as often as they please.

This funny delusion as to the relation between
trade and boundrj lines is no doubt promoted by
the use of such expressions as "National Trade",
"National Commerce", etc., when as a matter of
fact there is no such thing. All trade is individual:
the nation as such does not trade at all. But this
notion has led the American citizen to very absurd

CHALK TALKS 101

conclusions, which ought really to amuse a man
with his sense of humor.

For example, there is Texas. A few years ago
it formed part of Mexico, and free trade with its
inhabitants was of necessity "ruinous". Ameri-
can industry, of course, required protection
against Texas. But a Secretary of State waved
his pen and Texas was taken into the Union, and
instantly, lo and behold ! economic conditions were
reversed, and trade with the people down there
became as profitable as trade with any other of
the States.

Then, take the case of the foreign world. This
clearheaded American is firmly convinced that
Free Trade with foreign nations across the sea
would be a sure enough knock-out blow to his
home industries. He still holds this opinion, but
he says it does not apply to the Philippines, Porto
Rico and Hawii and more recently he has added
the Dutch West Indies to the list of exceptions. He
finds that Free Trade with the Philippines is as
good and profitable in its way as free trade with
Ohio. If some fine day Uncle Sam buys the
British Isles no doubt the Protectionists will dis-
cover that free trade with that country will be a
big success, but the tariff will still be needed to
ward off ruin from France, Spain, Italy, etc.

I am afraid we must conclude that the average
American, as well as his Canadian neighbor who
accepts the Protectionist doctrine, does not do
justice to his reasoning faculties, when he fails to

102

CHALK TALKS

see that Trade and Boundaries are in two dif-
i?erent classes. Trade concerns material objects
only; boundaries belong to the abstract and
mental realm. There is no connection between
them whatever.

Let us have an illustration on this point. Here
is a hog. That is certainly a concrete and ma-
terial object. A
farmer brings him
into the market to
sell. Two possible
customers appear.
This one says,
' ' Mister, I '11 give
you $10.00 for the
pig." The other says, "I'll give you $12.00."
The farmer is inclined to close with the latter, but
just then a solemn Theologian steps up and says,
"My friend, be careful. I happen to know that
the man who is offering you the $12.00 is a Metho-
dist; the other man is a Presbyterian like your-
self. If you don't want to lose your religious faith
you will deal with your own kind only." What
do you think the farmer would say to that? He
would probably say, "Sir, I don't see any con-
nection between pigs and Presbyterianism. "

In the same way there is no connection between
pigs and boundary lines; between trade and
diplomacy. One belongs to the world of ma-
terial things, the other to the world of thought.
What I want to emphasize is that trade is a

CHALK TALKS 103

natural thing, a thing that would go on among
human beings just the same if there were no
national boundaries on the earth or if there were
twice as many. That great fact is the keynote to
the whole subject, in my opinion. The tarriff idea
is a rebuke to nature and a contradiction of logic.

If a tariff is a good thing for Canada as a
whole, it would be equally good for each Province
—each county — each town — each family — each
individual, and there you are back at barbarism.

If a duty of 20 per cent, is a blessing, a duty of
40 would be twice as great a blessing ; sixty would
be three times as good and 100 would be best of
all, and there you are at confiscation.

Of course, the Protectionist gives a wide berth
to logic. He waves it aside with the hazy ex-
pression that you mustn't carry the thing too far.
This is a complete surrender. You can't carry a
truth too far. It remains true and consistent to
the very end. If free trade is a blessing (as it is)
among the people of one part of the world, it
would be an equal blessing among the people of
the whole earth. You can carry the free trade
doctrine right through logically, but a false
doctrine breaks down, and that's the reason the
Protectionist theory won't stand the strain.

To return to the matter of national boundaries.
Although they have no natural relationship to
Trade whatever, yet so long as people are organ-

104 CHALK TALKS

ized into nations we must have boundaries as a
matter of convenience and order. But these arti-
ficial limitations of national jurisdiction should
not be allowed to supersede in our minds the larg-
er truth of humanity. Nations are only families
in the wider community of the world.

Now, there are two things absolutely essential
to the life of a nation, namely, Revenue and Trade.
Theye two thinks correspond to Food and Exer-
sive in the case of an individual man. Revenue
is the food of the body politic and trade is its
means of health, corresponding to the circulation
of the blood in an individual body.

If Revenue fell from the skies into every na-
tional treasury I don't suppose we would ever
have heard of tariffs, and boundary lines would
never have intercepted the natural trade relations
among mankind.

In other words, the restrictions on trade
amongst the nations have sprung in the first place
from the prime necessity of securing National
Revenue. The great practical question for states-
manship is the getting of .revenue. Is there a law
of nature on this subject? Statesmen do not be-
lieve so; it is a matter, they think, for the "ways
and means" committee. Yet, I don't know why
they should be skeptical on the point. A nation is
a form of life, and nature certainly provides for
every other form of life; makes unfailing pro-
vision for revenue in the case of every raven,
every sparrow, every sheep. A sheep is not con-

CHALK TALKS 105

sidered the wisest of animals but it could teach
our statesmen something. You never knew a baby
sheep that didn't know where to go for revenue.

However, there seems to be
no nation that has as yet risen
to the level of sheep-sense in
this vital matter, and so those
who have charge of affairs
seem to have decided that
there is no possible method of
obtaining revenue except by interfering more or
less with trade.

That is to say, there must be a "tariff" of some
kind; in Great Britian it is a tarriff for revenue
levied on imports chiefly of luxuries; in Canada
and the United States a tariff on all kinds of
commodities levied chiefly for the protection of
native industries.

Some faults are inherent in the tariff policy,
whether for revenue or protection.

First — It is a policy based on the idea that a
man should be taxed in proportion to his necessi-
ties, and not in proportion to the benefits he re-
ceives.

Second — It is a policy that puts the burden of
taxation on labor products, and not upon special
privileges.

Third — It is a policy which imposes taxes in-
directly instead of directly.

Fourth — It is a policy which. must unavoidably

106

CHALK TALKS

raise prices to the consumer. The only thing that
you can tax without raising the price is land, be-
cause it has no cost of production. Every article
of human make has a cost of production and a tax
must be added to that.

Here is a Hat. The wholesale
importer pays the tax and adds it
to the price, and then he calculates
a profit on both cost and tax, and
collects it from the retailer, who adds his profit
on the whole sum, and finally the consumer pays
the entire bill when he buys the hat
—and this is how the innocent fel-
low looks — because he does not
know how much tax he has paid.
This is the case with every article
on the tariff list.

In the case of the revenue tariff
the increase is an unfortunate inci-
dent that cannot be avoided ; in the
case of the Protective tariff, the in-
crease in the price of the home made
article is the very essence of the scheme,
where the ''Protection" comes in.

Fifth — It is a policy everywhere and always
characterized by clumsiness, inefficiency, waste-
fulness and expensiveness, with accompaniments
of fraud, lying, perjury, delay, exasperation,
among citizens at home, and incitements to
hostility, strife and war with other nations
abroad.

That's

CHALK TALKS

107

The United States and Canada
ought to be to-day the two na-
tions on earth showing forth the
glo-xy of true Free Trade, and
to me it seems utterly out of ac-
cord with our ideals to find Jack
Canuck and Uncle Sam trying to
enjoy themselves in suits of
mediaeval armor ; standing as the
chief ex-
ponents of
the doct-
rine that Revenue MUST
be raised by a method
which interferes with trade.
The great purpose, of
course, is to protect and en-
courage home industries.
Well, if that be thought a
sound policy, why not do it
Avithout interfering with
Trade? Why not impose a direct tax of some
kind and out of th<? proceeds pay bounties to the
Industries 1

Here are some of the advantages of this plan:

1. There need be no interference with Trade at
all. Why should any sane man want such inter-
ference if it can be avoided?

2. You could give aid to all industries — and all
are entitled to them if any are.

3. You would know how much aid you were

108 CHALK TALKS

giving and what was being received in return.

4. You could stop when you had given enough.

5. It wouldn't cost nearly so much as the tariff
does.

6. You wouldn't encourage fraud, perjury and
bribery, and the meanness of satchel-searching
could be abolished.

7. You wouldn't be fomenting strife and war
with other nations.

8. It would not involve any increase of prices.
That is to say, the bounty system would be a

fair and just method of Protection leaving trade
free, while the Tariff system is unjust, inefficient
and every way objectionable.

I can't imagine how it is that such an absurdity
as the protection philosophy goes down with any
hard-headed man.

Here's a system that punishes the millions for
the sake of favoring a few thousands. Why do
foreigners send goods here? Because our people
want them and have bought them. What does the
tariff do 1 Makes them dearer ; at whose expense?
The home citizen's. And this is protection
against the foreigner!

The whole burden comes back with a dull thud
on the consumer. Meantime, under the shelter of
this tariff wall a few favored manufactures fill
their coffers with easy money. The theory really
is that monopoly is a good thing for the country.
Make the monopolists prosperous and they will
fill your dinnerpail. That is, they will pay wages

CHALK TALKS

109

in proportion to their own profits. Will they? Not
until there is also a tariff on workers coming in,
or until workmen are free to go and work for
themselves.

It is an arrant fraud on the consumer, but he,
poor fellow, doesn't count for much in the Pro-
tectionist thought.

"His not to reason why;
His but to vote and die —
Easy six hundred."

I marvel that the average man does not see that
it is impossible to give real or fair protection by
means of a Tariff.

How can you possibly benefit farming, ranch-
ing, mining, lumbering — the greatest of all in-
dustries— when there are no imports in those
lines? And how can you protect any manu-
facturers that are not in competition with foreign
makers? The truth is that only a few manu-
facturing concerns can benefit,
while a great many are positively
injured. You could save money
by pensioning off all the in-
dustries that are now benefited
by the tariff.

And this ancient pretence of
"nurturing infant industries
until they become self-sustain-
ing!" I will make you a picture
of an infant industry studied

110

CHALK TALKS

from life. This infant has been on the bottle for
fifty years, and keeps a lobby at the Capital to-
day crying for more pap. And its employees are
rattling their full dinner-pails and threatening to
go on strike for wages enough to meet the in-
creased cost of living! Is this worthy of a
sensible nation as a system of securing the na-
tional revenue?

The gravest count in the indictment against
Protection is that, besides being a detestable
fraud, it is a strife-fomenter amongst the nations.
It is no wonder that Protectionists talk of trade in
terms of war, for the whole essence and spirit of
Protection is anti-humanitarian and anti-christ-
ian, inasmuch as its keynote is non-intercourse and
enmity.

Imagine a Protectionist Philosopher going

abroad as a Missionary
in a benighted heathen
nation. As an exponent
of Christianity he tells
the natives that true re-
ligion is founded on love
and brotherhood, and then
as an exponent of Pro-
tection, he tells them that
true Political Economy is
founded on non-inter-
course and ''keeping your money in your own
country. ' '
And yet, after all these considerations, I fear

CHALK TALKS

111

the average citizen is too busy as a free trader at
home to give consideration to the absurdity of

being also a Protectionist
abroad, and so he will con-
tinue to be the easy mark of
the schemers, and with a
bandage of prejudice over
his eyes will continue to
shout thoughtlessly, "Any-
way, the tariff builds up
Industry. The country
would go to smash if it
wasn't for the tariff!"

No man of inventive
genius can have any respect for a machine that is
such a failure for revenue producing as a tariff.
Compared with the taxation of land values it is
like Prof. Fakerton's talking machine compared
with Edison's phonograph. The Professor's ma-
chine was about the size of a fanning mill, and
was a wonderful contraption of belts and pulleys,
but the general outcome was that it couldn't talk.
Then Edison came along and gave us the phono-
graph— a perfect success, and yet in so small a
compass that a little boy or girl could carry it.

This tariff invention is a mighty elaborate and
expensive contrivance, but it can't be made to
work fairly. Indirect taxation is essentially
fraudulent. It is, moreover, an insult to the in-
telligence of the people, for it assumes that they
enjoy being robbed if only they do not know the

112 CHALK TALKS

amount that is being
filched from them. It is
the system which the
cynical French states-
man commended on the
*"' ground that it enabled
the Government to
pluck the greatest
quantity of feathers from the geese with the least
amount of squawking.

Why was Edison 's phonograph a complete suc-
cess and Prof. Fakerton's talking machine a
miserable failure? Because Edison put himself
in harmony with a natural law of physics, and
Fakerton tried to invent something based on an
erroneous theory. This brings us back to the
question, Is there a natural law of revenue? If
so, does not common sense say, Let us adopt a
system in harmony with it?

I would expect to find Nature's law one that
would be just, equitable, practical and economical
and, if it is true that Nature has made man a
Trading Animal, I cannot imagine that her law of
revenue would interfere with Trade. Nature does
not contradict herself.

The belief of the average, easy-going citizen is
that it doesn't matter how the revenue is obtained.
Any old way will do, provided you get enough
money. He doesn't bother about natural laws in
the matter at all. He leaves it to the Ways and
Means Committee to do the devising, and when

CHALK TALKS

113

Congress or Parliament passes a tariff scheme, his
part is just to shout.

I submit that there certainly is a natural
law of revenue for every nation and every
division of the nation. Providence, which
cares for ravens and' lambs has not overlooked
the needs of human communities. This law
does not interfere with trade; it leaves trade
absolutely free.

It is not the Bounty system. That is better and
fairer than the Tariff system, but it is only an-
other man-made expedient.

The natural law of Revenue presupposes abso-
lute and real Free Trade. John Bull is called a
Free Trader. He is . really
only a half -free Trader. There
is no restriction on exchange,
but production is tied up.
Here's how he is fixed.

Before anything can be
bought or sold, it must be pro-
duced, and whether it is a bag
of wheat or a diamond pin, it
has got to be produced from
land. The foundation of all
possible trade is production, and the essentials of
production are the elements of nature on the one
hand, and labor (in which I include capital) on the
other. In Britain and other countries the natural
factor of production is tied up. There is no equit-
able access to land, and meanwhile taxes are levied

114 CHALK TALKS

on labor products — which is another name for
wages.

Now I want to point out the natural law of
revenue, and like all natural laws you will see it
is simple, obvious and universal. Though the trade
of a nation is only the trade of its individual
citizens, the revenue of a nation is a strictly na-
tional thing. Trade is a matter of you and me;
revenue is a matter of us. Whatever value / as a
citizen obtain by my individual industry, service
or trade, is my private property; but whatever
value WE as a nation or community obtain be-
longs to US? to all, and is in its very nature Public
Eevenue.

The value of this building where we are
assembled was created by the labor of specific
individuals who co-operated for the purpose, and
put together the materials. That is a labor value,
and it belongs to the individuals who did the work
or those who paid them an equivalent for it.

Whence came the value of the land? Once it
had no value at all. The value came because popu-
lation came, and it therefore belongs to popu-
lation. It is a value which exactly measures the
benefits of Society to this particular site, and
therefore, is precisely the revenue required to
provide those benefits. Put this value in the
public till by the process of taxing land values
and franchise values, which are also created by
the people as a whole.

In order to set trade absolutely free both in

CHALK TALKS 115

production and exchange, we only need an amend-
ment which will bring our laws into harmony with
the admonition — 'Render unto the people that
which is the people's, and to each private citizen
that which he earns.'

And that amendment only requires the inser-
tion of one word in the present law, which says,
* ' The man who owns land shall therefore own all
the value which attaches to that land wherever
that value comes from." Amend that by insert-
ing the word NOT, so as to read ''The man who
owns the land shall not therefore own the value. ' '

This is fair and just to the land owner. It
leaves him the land and the exclusive use of the
same without taxation of his improvements, but
it asks him to render up the value. And why?
Because they are not land-values, but values at-
taching to the people. They constitute the natur-
al public revenue, and the fundamental injustice
is that they now go into private coffers instead
of into the public till.

Ladies and gentlemen, I submnt the case. Think
it over.

THE SOCIAL QUESTION

THOUGH I am announced to deal on this
occasion with the "Single Tax", I am not
going to devote my time to a discussion of
taxation. You will no doubt be relieved to hear
this, for to most people it is a dry and uninterest-
ing subject. My reason, however, for avoiding it
is that I do not believe in Taxation. I regard it
as a waste of time to spend an hour in discussing
a thing I don't believe in. I have two good rea-
sons for disbelieving in Taxation; first, it is a
very vexatious thing ; and second, it is an entirely
unnecessary thing.

I am going to discuss a subject that is not dry
but juicy, and one that is of universal interest,
namely, the subject of Human Society.

We are all familiar with the word
Society — with a capital S., and it
happens to represent a thing which
can be presented in picture form.
I accordingly begin by making a
picture of Society. You know all
our enterprising newspapers have
a society column or page; a very
absorbing department of special
interest, it is said, to lady readers,
containing paragraphs about pink

116

CHALK TALKS

117

teas in the upper circles ; and recherche functions
in the form of banquets given without regard to
expense to select companies of pet poodle dogs.
My main criticism of the society editor is that he
has only a partial view of his department. He
seems only to be aware of one end of Society — the
fat and comfortable end — represented in such a
figure as Fig.l. But there is another end to Society
as it has developed in the Old World, and is de-
veloping on this new continent.
At one end the multi-millionaire
(by which familiar word we mean
the human being who has more
wealth than any human being
ever earned) and at the other
end a figure like this — the fel-
lowman who doesn't know where
his next meal is coming from,
and who pleads for the favor
of a job of work by which he

may be able to
keep body and
soul together —
the pauper, the
tramp. When
we have these
two figures con-
fronting each
other across a
great chasm

118 CHALK TALKS

that is constantly growing wider and deeper, we
have the complete view of Society. We have in
the concrete the ' * Condition-of-the-people Ques-
tion ", and surely in a " Government of the people,
by the people for the people" there can be no
problem of deeper or more vital interest. And- in
my view there is no question in any of the political
platforms more important than this, the Social
question, which I may state in the phrase of
Artemus Ward— "Why is this thus?" What
causes this cleavage between the rich and the poor,
not merely in the effete nations of Europe but
here in America, on a continent capable of sup-
porting ten times its present population in com-
fort or even luxury? What is the cause of this
paradox — in the matter of stomachs, for example
— for in the one case, though the stomach is
obvious, nay prominent, it never gives its owner
a thought, while in the other case, though it is
invisible or apparently non-existent, the man
can't think of anything else How came to pass
this travesty of Christianity; this satire on the
doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and the
Brotherhood of Man? For these are brothers.
You would scarcely believe it ; the family likeness
has been lost. That is the great question — what
causes this split in human Society, and how is it
to be radically remedied? For, my friends, it is
inevitable that if we do not find a means of clos-
ing up this chasm, if it continues to grow wider
and wider, there is certain to be a calamity, a
catyclism of ruin.

CHALK TALKS 119

This is the spectacle which struck the eye and
the heart of Henry George, and set him upon his
quest to find the cause and the cure. The out-
come of his prolonged study was a book which is
now known throughout the world. It is called
" Progress and Poverty" because the question to
be answered was, why does Poverty accompany
Progress f Why are the great masses of the peo-
ple as poor as ever notwithstanding that pro-
gress in labor-saving inventions enables us to
produce a hundred-fold or a thousand-fold more
of the things we want? George's answer was in
one word, monopoly.

That is the monkey-wrench which has been
thrown into the machinery of Society — only
it hasn't been thrown in by wicked design, but
has been legislated in by shortsighted and stupid
statesmanship. Listen: I want you to mark my
words — We have ena'cted laws under which the
natural public revenue does riot go to the public,
but into the private coffers of a special class of the
citizens. This is what makes it necessary to have
taxes — which, I repeat, are really unnecessary as
well as vexations.

I asked you to mark my words, and I suppose
you noted my use of the phrase "natural public
revenue". This means that nature has provided
for public revenue in every community, be it city,
township, county, province or Dominion — by a
law as sure and unfailing as that of gravitation.
Such is my conviction, but it is not shared at pres-

120 CHALK TALKS

ent by our practical statesmen. They apparently
hold that nature has nothing to do with the mat-
ter ; that public revenue must be raised by tariffs
and other methods devised by the Ways and
means Committee, and that therefore taxation is
and must continue to be "as sure as death". I
presume, however, that if I can prove my point,
and demonstrate this law of nature, all statesmen
will agree that it will be the part of wisdom to put
ourselves in harmony with it. It does not pay to
fight against nature. So I will proceed to my
proof.

In the first place, let us understand what is
meant by revenue. You say it means the public
income, the funds which are needed to pay for the
upkeep of the public institutions. Everybody
recognizes that this is an absolute necessity; the
country must have sufficient revenue or it cannot
go on.

We may say that literally revenue is the food
on which the community lives. In the case of an
individual man, food is the first thing that must
come first. He must keep body and soul together
by eating. That is the condition he is under on
this planet, because man is an animal. In this
primary matter he is on a par with every other
animal, however humble. If you think it seems
humiliating to say man is an animal I hasten to
(add — so is woman. Eating must precede every-
thing else; science, art, literature, philosophy,
music — all these are secondary things. The

CHALK TALKS

121

economic comes first — the man must keep alive,
and so lie must eat. As the Irishman asked,
" What's the good of a man if his wife is a
widdy?"

Now, nobody questions that Nature has some-
thing to say as to what a man shall eat and drink.
Personal liberty is strictly limited. If he eats
poison the question is at once closed. If he eats
unwholesome food or drinks unfit beverages, he
violates Nature's law of diet and must bear the

penalty. When
you see a man
with a face
like this —
you don't re-
quire to be a
great medical
expert to be

able to dias-

\ --~ - ^ -i nose the case.

You say, here is a chap who ignores or defies
Nature's law; and you may see cases of the op-
posite kind, where dyspepsia is the punishment
for an unwise indulgence in pickles. We all
recognize this law of Nature — if you would enjoy
good health you must eat wholesome food.

My contention simply is that this law applies
also to the community — to the Nation and all its
subdivisions, and dictates that the public revenue,
which is its food, must be wholesome.

Why should anybody doubt that Nature has as

122 CHALK TALKS

much to say about what a Nation consumes for
revenue as what a man eats for food? A Nation
is just a gigantic man, and is subject to all the
laws of life which apply to an individual. A
Nation is as distinct a form of life as is a raven
a sparrow or a lily, and if, as the Divine Teacher
assured us, Providence has a care for these, we
may well ask, is not a Nation of human beings of
more value than many sparrows'? The ravens
and the sparrows are fed — that is, they receive
their needed revenue. They are placed in a suit-
able environment and endowed with the instinct
to avail themselves of the abundance provided.
Let me picture a calf. It is
a harmless animal, not dis-
tinguished for sagacity,
and yet Nature never fails
to provide for its susten-
ance, which is only another
word for revenue. I would not say that the aver-
age statesman knows less than a calf, but I have
never heard of a calf that did not know where to
go for revenue. And where does it go? To Na-
ture 's unfailing supply. There is always a mother
cow in the case. Now, if I brand the calf "comm",
meaning community, and the cow "Val.", mean-
ing values, we have an allegory which illustrates
the idea. The community should subsist upon
revenue in the form of natural values. That would
be obeying the law I have referred to. Why is it
not done? Because, as I have already indicated,

CHALK TALKS

133

we have foolish-
ly legislated the
natural valuea
into the posses-
sion of private
monopolists, and
by law we com-
pel the calf to
|L subsist on an
^artificial diet of
corn-shucks and
shavings painted green; that is, on revenue
obtained by the taxation of labor-values.
Meanwhile a stray goat is permitted to butt
in, and absorb the natural revenue. You
observe that I am merely contending for the fair
and reasonable principle enunciated by the Great
Teacher — " Render unto Caesar the things that
are Caesar's". If you do this, you can then
afford to render to the private citizen the things
that are his, and the outcome will be peace, be-
cause it is justice. In a free country like ours
Caesar means the community, and the values
which exist in any country fall into two classes,
viz. public and private. These are easily dis-
tinguished, and all I ask is that public values
shall be reserved for the public, and private val-
ues for the private individuals who justly own
them. To make this idea clear let us present two
spheres, which, as you see, stand quite distinct
and apart. The one represents public values, the

124 CHALK TALKS

other private, and the line
which divides them is the lino
which separates the works of
nature from the works of man.
That is surely an obvious distinction, though it
is not recognized by our laws, unfortunately.
In the category of public values I place all
those values, translatable into terms of money,
which arise by reason of natural law; and in
the other category those values which are the
result of human labor. On the one hand, land
values, franchise values and the value of na-
tural resources; and on the other hand,
houses, furniture, machinery and all the multi-
tudinous things that man creates by work of hand
and head. These values are utterly different
both in character and origin. Public values are,
in short, another word for population; private
values are the fruit of conscious individual effort.
What excuse can there be for confusing these
values? I might enfore the point by referring to
our situation at this moment. We are gathered
in a building which stands upon land, and both
building and land have value. There was a time
when fhis plot of land had no value; it is now
worth a great sum of money. How is this ac-
counted for? Clearly by the growth of popula-
tion, and the consequent competition for oppor-
tunities. Did the house arise because population
came? No, it represents a labor-value. Now it
seems obvious to me that the free gifts of nature

CHALK TALKS

125

to the community ought to belong to the commun-
ity, and the fruits of human labor to those who do
the work or give a full equivalent for it. That is
really the whole contention of Henry George and
those who think with him. But it is repudiated

by the existing system,
which taxes labor val-
ues for public revenue,
and permits public
values to go into pri-
vate coffers .If I trans-
form these spheres in-
to a pair of spectacles
and work out a face,
I may get a composite
portrait of this aud-
ience ' ' seeing the
point". That point
is the fundamental
thing in the social question — the existence of leg-
alized monopoly as the basis of our social system.
This is, however, a digression. I have asserted
that there is a natural law of revenue, and al-
though it is implied in the illustration I have just
given — the taking of community values for com-
munity use — I wish to set it forth in another form,
in a picture which might be entitled " Public
revenue and how to get it for the public". I
ignore for the moment franchise values, water
powers, forests and mines, which are sources of
natural revenue, and take what is called land-

126

CHALK TALKS

value as the subject of this illustration. Here
is a horizontal line which represents a stretch of
land, let us say a prairie, at a point remote from
settlement, with
the tent of a squat-
ter upon it. The
only value this
land has is its inherent power of growth. It is good
for crops, and will respond to labor, but this is not
what we mean by land-value in economic discus-
sion. Now, let us suppose that a population of
100,000 people suddenly arrives at this spot, in-
tending to establish a city. Two things simul-
taneously occur, viz. 1. There is a need for rev-
enue, and 2. there is a rise of land-value. There
is no exception to this law; it is as certain, I re-
peat, as the law of gravitation. Each lot in the pro-
posed city has an opportunity value, and the ag-
gregate of these values is a
fund sufficient to supply the
needed revenue. It is as
though the weight of the
population transforms the
settler 's tent into a fountain
of value, translatable into
dollars in the form of land-
rent. The revenue
problem is solved
by placing the public till under the fountain — or,
in other words, the opportunity-value of each lot
is taken (under forms of taxation) as the sole

CHALK TALKS

127

revenue, all improvements being exempted. The
cost of public service is only another term for the
opportunity-value of the lots. This holds true
in every community, large or small. The city has
an ample revenue without any taxation whatever,
properly so called. Each lot-holder merely
"pays his footing"; the use he makes of his op-
portunity is his own affair. Here, then, we have a
community established on the basis of the natural
law of revenue ; and it is only necessary for hu-
man society to be in harmony with oatural law
to enjoy justice and prosperity. Here is a city
in which the community and the individual citizen
enjoy their mutual rights; it is the condition
which should prevail everywhere, and would, but
for the selfish perversity of man-made laws. Ob-
serve what might and probably would happen in
this case. After
the city has been
flourishing, say
ten years, along
comes a sleek-
looking stranger
— possibly Mr. J.
R u f u s Walling-
f ord — who dis-
plays a title-deed
to the land on
which the city has been built, and calls atten-
tion to the fact that the law provides that
"the man who owns the land accordingly

128

CHALK TALKS

owns all the value which comes to the land regard-
less of its source". The natural revenue becomes
his private perquisite, and he interjects his pri-
vate hat just a-
bove the public
till. The whole
fountain belongs
to him hence-
forth ; and he
may demand a
cheque for all
the community
has collected in
the past. Lit-
erally in any situation like this as things are, the
owner of this title to the land could "get away
with it". But if this community continued its
policy of obtaining revenue only from land
values, it could make no real difference to
this supposition city, as Wallingford would sim-
ply take the place of the lot owners in supplying
the public revenue. His would be the only name on
the "tax" list, and what he collected in rent would
be precisely the measure of what he would pay in
"taxes" — the community value would still go
where it belonged, into the public till. There
would be a "rent" of another kind at the other
end of his hat. As a monopolist, he would be
effectually thwarted, and justice would be vindi-
cated.

This process of vindicating justice is usually

CHALK TALKS

129

described as the "taxation of land-values". I
object to the phrase on two grounds. First, it is
not taxation, as it does not take anything for the
public to which a private citizen has a moral right.
It is a case of the community simply taking its
own. And second, the values in question are not
"land" values. They do not attach to land. They
attach to people, and for that reason justly be-
long to the public. They should be called people-
values. To show the relation between land and
land- values (which many suppose to be identical)
allow me to make a little study of human nature
here — a picture let us
say of a "Dude". It
is alleged that a dude
has not ener gy
enough to cast a
shadow, but this is a
libel. He can, when
he has a fair chance,
and his shadow is
quite an uncommon
one, too. In this
case let us suppose
it falls on a hill in the
back-ground; and let
us suppose further that shadows were mercantile
commodities, bought and sold on the stock ex-
change; and that this one was worth a consider-
able sum. Of course, the moment the shadow

130 CHALK TALKS

who owned the hill. He would display his title
deed to the land and claim the value of the shadow
now attaching to it, as by law provided. This is
an allegory in which the Dude represents popula-
tion, the hill land, and the shadow value. But it
is not land-value, as becomes clear when the Dude
moves on. It is not attached to the land, but to the
living human element. That is manifest where
there is movement of population. What we call
land-value is the demand for opportunities, and
bears the same relation to land as a shadow does.
The relation might also be illustrated by the re-
flection in a mirror which is not attached to the
mirror but to the living person whose presence
and movements are reflected. When we speak of
the value of a city lot, therefore, what is it we
mean? Not the land itself, because an equally
good piece of land of the same size could be bought
in the country for a hundredth of the price. The
value consists of the site, and that means its ac-
cess to good streets, lights, schools, churches,
theatres, etc., in short, public services. To have
possession of that site is to be able to enjoy these
things. The value of the lot is just its proportion
of what these services cost. The vacant land
dealer is not selling land, but public services,
which are people-value.

To put this same idea in other words is to say
that every citizen should contribute to the public
revenue in proportion to the public services he
enjoys ; and he does this only and exactly when he

CIIALK TALKS

131

renders up to the public till the annual value of
his land, for that is the true and accurate rigister
of the service he recieves. He should pay the
public for what the public does for him, not, as at
present, for what he does for himself.

Payment for service is, in fact, the principle
underlying all honest business, and it ought to be
made the foundation of the system of obtaining
public revenue. Compare the present method of
obtaining revenue by all sorts of taxation with
that by which the owner of an office building se-
cures his revenue from the property. He simply
charges his tenant a straight sum for the space
occupied in accordance with its size and location.

It is a business oppor-
tunity worth so much,
and this the tenant is
charged. What h e
makes out of the oppor-
tunity is his own con-
cern. What do you
think the owner of such
a building would say to
a crank like this, who
would come in and pro-
pose that this simple
business-like plan
should be abolished,
and a plan substituted under which the tenants
should be taxed on their imports, exports, furn-
iture, volume of business and an infinity of other

132

CHALK TALKS

things'? That is, the national system of getting
revenue suggested. He would probably telephone
for the police — or the officials of the asylum.

Now, a community — city, county, province or
Dominion—is nothing but an office building on the
horizontal, with its spaces on the ground.

The natural law of revenue I have endeavored
to set forth is superior to the artificial law made
by legislators in every respect, but chief of all in
that it respects and protects the right of property,
both public and private. The prevailing system
invades both. By confiscating private property
through taxation of labor values it stands condem-
ned before the ancient statute — "thou shalt not
steal". It not only robs the private citizen of
that which is justly his own, but it aids the mon-
opolist in appropriating that which justly belongs
to the community. And so it must continue to do,
until we have secured the radical reform of our
social system by the
amendment of the exist-
ing law. And that amend-
ment need be but a small
one — not more than the
insertion of the little word
NOT — the land owner
shall NOT be the value-
owner also.

That little word makes
all the difference between
justice and monopoly ; be-

THE OWNER, of
VMHA1EVER. VALUE
COWE5 TO it, RE-

OP
VALUE

CHALK TALKS

133

tween society as it might have been and society
as it is.

It is because the law has down to the present
given the owner of land the right to own also the
value that may come to it through growth of pop-
ulation that I lament the ill-luck of poor Kobinson
Crusoe, in that he was shipwrecked on Juan
Fernandez instead of Manhattan Island. Oh!
what a difference it would have made to his heirs
and assigns forever, by virtue of this Christian
law of land-tenure.

He knew that the man who owns land

Owns the value attaching thereto;
And to pick out a good business stand,

Was the thing you'd have thought he would do.

Just suppose he'd shown real enterprise
And had the disaster take place

134 CHALK TALKS

Let us say where the Battery now lies —
Things would wear such a different face !

On a height with a fine Jersey view
He then could have taken his stand,

And recited with eloquence true
Those verses of Cowper's so grand —

"I'm monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute ;

From the center all 'round to the sea
I am lord of the fowl and the brute ! ' '

Then when, in the course of the week,
He saw on the seashore just there

The print of a man's naked foot,
He wouldn't have got such a scare.

On the contrary, he would have danced

A hilarious jig of delight,
And the words of his poem he 'd change

To interpret the symbol aright —

"A footprint? Why, what does it mean?

It means population is coming !
Soon thousands will crowd on the scene,

And rent for the lots will be humming !

"I'm monarch of all I survey,

Gee ! I '11 have the whole island surveyed ;
And to me and my heirs from to-day

Shall the whole of the land-rent be paid !

CHALK TALKS 135

"I'm lord of the fowl and the brute,
I '11 be lord, too, of each human soul ;

No mortal shall here set his foot
Without paying perpetual toll !

"My conditions will not be severe,
For my nature, I trust, is not stern ;

I will simply collect every year
The big end of all that they earn !

"The law of this glorious land,

This home of the brave and the free,

Puts this boodle right into the hand
Of the landlord — R. Crusoe, you see !

"A vision of millions and fame,

My wealth will grow faster and faster ;

I'll change this old Eobinson name,
And call myself Vanderbilt- Astor ! "

ANTI-BARLEYCORN

A CHALK-TALK ON PROHIBITION.

THE license system, so far as regards the
public sale of intoxicating liquor, is a thing
of the past in America — by which I mean
the United States and the Dominion of Canada —
with the single exception of the Provinces of Que-
bec, and B.C., where beer and wine are still legally
dispensed. The barroom is gone forever, and there
appears to be no one to mourn its departure,
unless perhaps here and there an old toper drops
furtive and maudlin tears over the loss of such
a convenient means of gratifying the appetite that
is his master. Poor fellow, he is a fit subject for
pity, and if he is also to be blamed, that blame
must be shared by all
who helped to uphold
the license system.

This man wasn't
born a toper. Topers
are made, not born. At
the dawn of his man-
hood, as he stepped
from the door of the
public school or college
he gave every promise

136

137

of being a good and useful
citizen. He was probably a
bright, hopeful, intelligent young
fellow looking something like
this — ready to step out into
active life, and by taking up a
man's share of the responsibility
of government repay the benefits
bestowed upon him in the form of
a good education. He was prob-
ably moved by high ideals and a
noble ambition. But he stepped out into an
environment whose atmosphere had been created
by the license system. On all hands he found
temptations and opportunities to learn the drink
habit — bar-rooms that had over their doors the
practical approval of the government, places that
were lawful and might therefore be regarded as
safe and respectable. The popular tune was
"Everbody's doing it", and it is no great wonder
that he felt an inclination to be in the fashion. So
he took his first glass, and that brought him into,
contact with the insidious habit-forming drug, that
was never adapted to be used as a beverage. This
subtle and powerful agent, alcohol, is the very
substance of the liquor traffic, and it is a thing
essentially destructive by nature. As soon as this
young man got the drink habit, the habit got him.
The first signs of its mastery were in the neglect
of his personal appearance. He was less par--
particular in matters of neatness. His patronage

138

CHALK TALKS

of the bar diminished his patron-
age of the barber. Before long he
reached the stage when he was
not ashamed to go about in bad
need of a shave. Then he de-
serted the laundry man, and his
spic and span collar was replaced
by a handkerchief he had ap-
parently rescued from the ash
barrel. Meanwhile he had ceased
(through financial stringency)
patronizing the hatter and the
clothier, which I may remark is an incidental
commentary on the argument of the liquor advo-
cates that the abolition of bar-rooms is fatal to
the business interests of a community. Thus by
gradual degrees he reached the stage in which he
illustrated the proverb — The drunkard shall come
to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with
rags. The cane he brought from college was now
put to more practical use as a staff on which to
carry his wardrobe when he went abroad on his
travels. In outward appearance he was now a
tramp, and in mind and spirit he was a moral
derelict, whose one purpose in life was to assuage
the craving he felt for alcohol. He was the finish-
ed product of the bar-room and represented all
that it ever did or could do for a young man. We
find it hard to realize that there ever was a time
when such an institution was authorized by the
people to carry on such a work of demoralization.

CHALK TALKS

139

The bar-room is gone, and there is general re-
joicing. The prohibitionists point triumphantly
to the improved conditions and say "I told you
so"; these evidences have led to the conversion
of many who voted against the policy. But, most

remarkable of all,
we have two fat
gentlemen joining
in the jubilation. I
picture them in the
attitude of hilarity
dancing a jig of
joy. You may be
surprised when I
mention that their
names are Brewer and Distiller. They are to-
day declaring that they are glad the bar is gone,
and that they will not lift a finger to bring it
back. It was, they say, a disreputable thing, and
brought discredit to an otherwise respectable
traffic. While there is ample cause for rejoicing
all round, yet we find evidence on all hands that
we have by no means got rid of the problem of
drunkenness. The police magistrates are trying
many cases up and down the country-side, and
sentencing many of the culprits to fine or im-
prisonment. Not one of these cases is due to bar-
rooms or liquor shops being open; and few of
them are owing to violation of the Provincial law.
They are accounted for by two facts chiefly, first,
that the Provincial law does not prohibit the use

140

CHALK TALKS

of liquor in the private house; and second, that,
when enacted, it had no jurisdiction over im-
portation.

It would seem that there are three distinct
stages to the evolution of bone-dry prohibition—
1. Stopping sale; 2. Stopping importation; 3.
Stopping manufacture. We are now in the second
stage in all the Provinces outside of Quebec and
B.C., and we may look with
some envy on our neighbor,
Uncle Sam, who has in his con-
stitutional amendment made a
clean job of all three. Under
the circumstances the old
gentleman ought to be pict-
ured wearing an expression of
pardonable pride and satis-
faction. If he acts consistent-
ly in other respects with his
record as the first nation to overthrow that curse
of humanity, the liquor traffic, he will indeed be
entitled to the honor of the world. His smile of
satisfaction may well broaden at the fact that the
Supreme Court has decided that the constitutional
amendment is constitutional, and so is the En-
forcement Act. This latter act fixes the definition
of what constitutes intoxicating liquor, and it
places the limit at y2 of one per cent, of alcohol.
The Enforcement Act is an Act of Congress and
is liable to amendment. The great fight of the wets
is to get it amended in the direction of a higher

CHALK TALKS

141

percentage. They want
more ''kick" in their
drink — they won't be
satisfied until they can
have a temperance
beverage that will pro-
duce a drunk and do it
quickly. So their aim is
to get members of that
way of thinking elected
to Congress and secure
" liberalizing" of the
Enforcement Act. On the other hand the one and
only hope of the friends of Prohibition is to keep
on electing a dry Congress, and this means eternal
vigilance at the primaries to secure the nomina-
tion of the right kind of candidates, and their
election at the polls.

This desperate determination of the enemy to
bring back the old conditions as far as possible is
in the face of the record of improvement that has
been made in the first year of the Amendments'
history, and in view of the many drawbacks and
handicaps, it is certainly a wonderful record. As
it indicates in a measure what we may look for in
Canada when we have secured the abolition of
manufacture and importation I make note here
of a few of the salient facts — for it would be im-
possible to attempt to tell the full story of the
glorious revolution.

142 CHALK TALKS

Midnight of June 30, 1919, is the dividing line
between United States legally wet and United
States legally dry. Make a note of that, for it is
destined to be a red letter date in the world's
history. Legally does not yet mean actually dry,
but it is steadily tending that way. Notwith-
standing all the imperfections attending the first
year of the great experiment the results are de-
clared by careful observers to be such as to
astonish even the ardent supporters of the dry
policy and to convert thousands of its former op-
ponents.

Although the United States is an immense ex-
panse of territory with a great diversity of clim-
ate and an equally great variety of peoples and
conditions the results have been the same every-
where. There is practically no exception to the
rule that

Crime has been reduced.

Accidents have been lessened.

Industrial conditions have been improved.

Bank savings deposits have been increased.

Juvenile delinquency cases have diminished.

In short, every prophecy of calamity made by
the liquor advocates has been exploded, and every
prediction of improvement made by Prohibition-
ists has been more than realized.

Take a few brief statements of fact at random :

1. The State of Ohio records an increase in
bank deposits of almost a quarter of a billion dol-

CHALK TALKS 143

lars, not including the National banks — nearly
$100,000,000 ahead of any increase ever before
recorded in the State.

2. Ont of 526 replies of labor leaders to the
question, "Has Prohibition been a benefit to the
workingmen and their families?" there were 345
yes to 143 no.

3. As to the prediction that the hotel business
would be ruined, the testimony is that never in the
history of the country have hotels prospered as
during the past year. It is found that the bars
actually make more profit as restaurants, candy
shops and soft drink parlors.

4. As to the criminal record, we have it on high
official authority that the figures from 17 of the
larger cities of New York State show that there
has been a decrease of 34 per cent, in crime in the
first year of Prohibition.

5. The alcoholic wards in the largest hospitals
of New York and Philadelphia have been closed.

But really I have not time to tabulate further.
I must forbear telling of the vast reduction that
has been made in the number of dependent
families, of how the New York free dispensary
for the treatment of the drug habits which did an
immense business in the days of the barroom has
been ordered closed for want of patients ; how the
fire loss in the city of Birmingham, Ala., was re-
duced from $2,150,000 to less than half a million ;

144

CHALK TALKS

how the brewers and distillers have found new
employment for their plants in the making of
useful commodities, and according to their own
testimony are making more money than they did
when manufacturing liquid poison; and finally
how all this reform has meant a tremendous sav-
ing to the taxpayers of the nation.

If these things can be done in a green tree, what
can be done where the tree is fully dry? and if they
can be done in the States, they can be done in Can-
ada by the same process — the outlawing and ex-
tinction of the liquor traffic root and branch.

Meanwhile, it is a new experience for us to be
compelled to look up to Uncle Sam as an ex-
ample in moral re-

form; and it is a still
stranger and., more
humiliating experience
to find ourselves re-
garded as a bad and
dangerous neighbor —
one whose territory is
being used as the
stamping ground of
rum - runners, boot-
leggers and other
miscreants actively engaged in nullifying the pro-
hibition policy along the border line. We must
press on to the final stage of the battle, and the
final battle of the war, to totally prohibit manu-
facture for beverage purposes.

CHALK TALKS 145

But the experience of the United States warns
us that even when that is accomplished we must
remain under arms to secure enforcement.
Though the policy may be safe from a frontal at-
tack we will do well to look out for tricks and
stratagems. It is manifest that the line of policy
to be adopted by the enemy is to secure a com-
promise on what they call the harmless drinks,
beer and wine.

No Canadian who knows the existing conditions
in Quebec can be fooled into believing that the
licensing of beer- and wine is to be called a temper-
ance policy. Apart from the fact that such
licenses provide a cover for the sale of spirituous
liquors, the truth, of course, is that beer and wine
are not harmless, but about the most dangerous
of intoxicating liquors. The whole agitation in the
States is based on the fact that the law has fixed
a percentage of alcoholic content which makes
these harmless. That is the head and front of
their offence — y% of 1 per cent, of alcohol won't
produce a drunk. And yet these bold hypocrites
profess that what they want is an unintoxicating
liquor. They are just as strongly opposed to 2y2
per cent, liquor authorized by the Ontario Act.
What they really demand is old-fashioned beer
and wine, and so they do not hesitate to declare
that these are temperance drinks. Surely every-
body who has any knowledge of history is aware

146

CHALK TALKS

that all the drunkenness in the world from the
earliest times down the tenth century was the re-
sult of beer and wine drinking, for the art of
distilling was not known until the 10th Century of
the Christian Era. Most people know something
of the Bible, if not of the classic writers, and they
do not need to be told that the nations of old,
who drank only beer and wine, had the terrible
curse of drunkenness upon them. But it is truly
an exhibition of hardened impudence in these days
of popular scientific knowledge for people to seri-
ously assert that true temperance would be served
by the licensing of these destructive liquors. To
authorize them in the States would be to restore
95 per cent, of the liquor traffic ; and I am sure we
all rejoice to believe that the answer lately given
by New Brunswick so emphatically against the
beer and wine proposition expresses the views
which will be taken by Canada as a whole. The fact
is that in this contest — as in all the fights for
moral and social reform — the real enemy is the
selfish human heart.
We are up against the
original sin — selfisn-
ness. The liquor traf-
fic is built on a two-
ply selfishness — of
appetite and greed —
it is maintained by the
victim of habit who is
determined to gratify J

CHALK TALKS

147

his passions regardless of consequences to 'him-
self or others, and the maker and seller of drink
who seeks fortune by exploiting this craving. The
innocent and respectable moderate drinker is the
lynch-pin of the whole evil, and chiefly responsible.
This responsibility is now greater than ever

before, because it
is the moderate
drinker c h i e fl y
who keeps his
cellar supplied
through importa-
tion, and the cellar
has practically
taken the place of
the bar in catering
to the habit. The boys and girls must now get
their first lessons in drinking at home, and so the
issue before every citizen who keeps liquor in his
house is whether he prefers his own personal
gratification to the safety of his children. It is
still the old issue of the Boy or the Bottle?

But I must bring
my remarks to an
end, and this natural-
ly suggests the end
of the liquor traffic
which, o f course,
means the prohibi-
tion of manufacture.
Our policy up to the

148

CHALK TALKS

present has been that of the curtailing process,
and with the stoppage of sale the cur's tail is gone
altogether. You see the liquor hound consists
of body and tail — like this:

We began the work of amputation on the caudal
appendage and the first operation was personal
abstinence ; that lop-
ped off an inch or two ;
then we had local
option in townships
and villages, and that
cut off some bars ; next
we had county option
which shortened the
tail still more; and finally Provincial Prohibi-
tion denuded the animal of his tail altogether. But
we have discovered that in this case the tail did
really wag the dog. "When we note the havoc
caused by the importation and the impossibility of
enforcing our Provincial law adequately while
liquor is allowed to come in we appreciate that the
teeth of the liquor traffic are at the other extremity
of the animal. In short, we have arrived at the
common sense conclusion that to end the evil we

^ m u s t remove its
source, which im-
plies that the sane
view is to amputate
the tail just behind
the ears. Prohibition
of the making of the

CHALK TALKS 149

stuff is the essential policy and must be the aim
of our concentrated effort from this time until
it is accomplished. .The only good liquor traffic
dog is a dead one.

I

" DO YOUR BIT"
A CHALK-TALK FOB YOUNG FOLKS.

AM going to make a talk on the phrase "Do
Your Bit" — an expression which was often
heard during the days of the great war.

"Bit" is one of the little words which is after
all a very big word ; only three letters, but a very
extensive significance. Of course it suggests the
importance of little things. As the poet has said :

"Little drops of water

Little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean

And the solid land."

Bit by Bit — that is the process of the growth
of the whole universe.

First, let us consider the physical universe, or
perhaps it will be enough to take just a small
portion of it — our own world,
which I may picture as a big ball.
It is a ball of tremendous size,
thousands of miles round, as you
know, and yet it is literally made
up of atoms or particles. It
could really be all reduced to bits

150

CHALK TALKS 151

I

so small that you would need a microscope to see
them. This is remarkable enough, especially
when we consider that the same is true of the
whole universe which contains millions on millions
of planets, many of them so big that our world is
only a tiny " bit" in comparison with them.

But now, I put some features on the face of the
world. You have heard of the man in the moon,
but we know for certain that man
inhabits the world; and by these
human features I want to indi-
cate the moral world, which we
might call "a world within the
world" — that is, the world of
mind and spirit, all that we in-
clude in the term human life.

Now, the thought I want to bring before you is
that this world also is made up of "bits". That
really concerns us even more than the other. 'To
make clear what I mean, let us take the Dominion
of Canada. When we use those words we mean
more than the merely physical things — land,
water, hills, valleys, prairie, and mountains.
These are certainly grand and beautiful, and we
have a right to rejoice in our heritage of fields,
farms and forests, rivers, lakes and bays — all
made up of "little drops of water and little grains
of sand" — but these are not what we are thinking
of chiefly, what our Dominion means to patriotic
hearts, thoughts — ideals, moral forces in the
form of manners, customs, laws, parliaments,

152

CHALK TALKS

schools, colleges, churches, factories, offices. When
we enquire how this country came into existence
the answer is, Bit by Bit. That is the process of
civilization as well as of creation. At first, in
.. the days before Columbus, there were but a few
v rudimentary ideas among the wild Indians, and
these concerning only the primary needs of life.
The Indian's chief interest was in his bow and
arrows, and his chief anxiety was to be sure of
his next meal. His whole language, I suppose,
was concerned with these primary needs. Well,
in the lapse of years the French voyageurs crossed
the ocean and the pioneer settlements began on
the banks of the St. Lawrence. That was the be-
ginning of Canada. They brought a stock of
thoughts and ideas with them, and the whole
future history was merely the adding of bits in
the way of ideas as to how life should be lived;
and out of these thoughts, opinions and ideals,
through additions to their numbers, gradually
emerged the vast body of institutions that in the
year 1867 receive the name of
Dominion of Canada. The
Confederation Act which /,

>f. •

formed the basis of this
Nationality, was itself the re-
sult of two political leaders
putting the 'bits in which they
agreed together, and it is fit-
ting that we should honor their
patriotic action. I shall do so

CHALK TALKS

153

by making cartoon portraits
of them — the Hon. George
Brown and Mr (.afterwards
Sir) John A. Macdonald.
From the day they made
famous — July 1, 1867 — to
the present time the Domin-
ion has gone on growing in
population, wealth, and pros-
perity, but always by the
process — Bit by Bit.

To come back to the expression "Do Your Bit",
what it means evidently is "Make your contribu-
tion— do your share." When the expression was
used in war days it meant, Do what you can to
help secure victory — and there certainly was a
great response to it by boys and girls as well as
men and women.

But it is as much in season in Peace days as
in War days. It is good all through life, and is
specially good as a rule of action for the young.
Oh, what a thing it is to be young. You little
people don't realize it at all. I know, because I
didn't when I was of your age. I suppose most of
you have hopes of becoming rich when you are
grown up. But listen. You are rich now and you
don't know it. I know of a man who has a thous-
and million dollars, and I have no doubt he would
gladly give his whole fortune for what every one
of you possesses, but which all the money in the
world could not buy — youth.

154

CHALK TALKS

Now is your time for making the right start—
and you couldn't have a better rule than this — To
do your bit every day.

Every boy and girl is a bundle of powers, and

all these powers are cap-
able of being put to good
use.

You have hands. Use
them in doing deeds of
kindness and generosity.
You have feet. Use
them in going on errands
of charity and helpful-
ness.

You have a head with
brains. Use it for think-
ing good thoughts and the tongue in it for speak-
ing words of truth and good will.

You have a body with a
heart in it. Cultivate
feelings of friendship and
helpfulness.

Then every boy can do
his bit every day. And
this applies to girls as
well, so I will fix up the
figure and put a skirt on
it.

Of course you will
understand that all I say
applies to boys and girls

CHALK TALKS 155

equally. And one of the things worth considering
is the Poet Longfellow's words "Life is real, life
is earnest", and every boy should take an interest
in it. When a boy takes an interest in anything he
shows it by his eyes and his actions. If for exam-
ple he takes an interest in school, he shows it in a
bright morning face and a lively gait-not like this.

This is the
sort of boy
Shakespea r e
mentions who
"Creeps like a
snail unwilling-
ly to school."

These poets,
by the way,
have said a lot of wise things. None of thorn
ever wrote a truer word than the one who used the
expression the "Battle of Life," though he was
not the poet who wrote

1 * Many men of many minds,

Many birds of many kinds,
Many fishes in the sea,
Many men who don't agree."

If anybody supposes that the time will ever
come when strife of all kinds will cease, and all
people will be of the same opinion on all subjects,
I think that person must be in the position of the
old lady who fell asleep and dreamed that she
was awake and then woke up to discover that
she was asleep.

156

CHALK TALKS

N o doubt,
since life is a
battle, it is
necessary that
we should be
adapted for
fighting, as we
all certainly
are to some
extent. W e
have a faculty
called combativeness, but let us remember that it
has a good purpose and was not given us to en-
courage quarrelsomeness. We are admonished
if it be possible, so far as in us lieth, to live peace-
ably with every man. Yet there is a good and
proper use for the instinct of pugnacity, and it
may be admirable in a boy
to strike an attitude like
this.

It all depends on what else
he strikes. Not the other
boy; but the real enemy,
whose name I write here in
front of the boy — e. v. i. 1.
By putting a line around the
name you see I convert it
into a punching bag and
that is the thing on which to exercise your moral
muscle, the evil within and the evil around you.
Attend to that and it will keep you so busy you

CHALK TALKS

157

then is a portrait
form.

What makes
the heart evil is
an evil principle
which lodges in it
like a poisonous
snake, and which
if it came out and
twisted itself
might spell its

your

will not have time to
fight with your com-
panions.

When you are
fighting evil within,
you are fighting
yourself, the good
book tells us greater
is he that conquers
himself than he that
taketh a city. Here
real foe in another

own name — Self.

We generally think
of selfishness as
meaning greed, and
in accordance with
our fashion of sym-
bolizing each vice or
virtue by some repre-

CHALK TALKS

sentative animal or bird, we have selected the Hog
as the type of greed. The man who is greedy we
call Hoggish, and it is not a compliment. A greedy
man may be a glutton, too fond of eating, or he
may be a grabber after money. It is said there is
a law by which a man gets to resemble the animal

whose traits he de-
velops, and if that
true I wrould

is

warn boys who are
too fond of their
meals to look out.
I will make a pict-
ure of such a
greedy boy and
show you what he
may finally come to. Here he is with his dish of
porridge. He has emptied it twice and is calling
for more, and while he is waiting for the next
helping we seem to notice a change coming over
him, and at last he
gets to look like
this.

Why are people
selfish ? because
they think that is
the way to happi-
ness and satisfac-
tion— always look-
ing out for num-
ber one. Getting,

159

not giving, that is what they believe in. And
so the boy with a pocket full of apples thinks
he gets more pleasure by eating them all him-
self fhan by sharing up with his chums, He's
the kind of chap who, when some fellow with his
teeth watering asks for the core, says, ''there
ain't goin' to be no core." But that greedy boy
is wrong. He would get far more satisfaction
out of his apples if he gave half of
them or even the whole of them away.
Let us show you how it works in the
case of a selfish girl who has two
dolls and refuses to let her little
playmate have one of them. Here is
how she stands with a proud look as
she says, "No, I'm going to keep
'em both myself, so there!" And
notice the sad expression
on the other girl's face.
There is a picture of
selfishness, and it never
means happiness. Now notice. Sup-
pose that this little girl suddenly re-
calls that she heard somebody say
"It is more blessed to give than to
receive," and she thinks she will
just try it. So she gives her little
chum one of the dolls, and says, "Now come on
and play with them and have fun." Just notice
the change. See the smile drive away the sad
expression and notice how the happiness is re-

160

CHALK TALKS

fleeted in the face of the
little girl who acted the
unselfish part. The only
road to happiness all
through life is to put self
in the second place ; to do
good to others rather than
to seek good for yourself.
The Battle of Life is
chiefly a battle against
the spirit of self.

I said awhile ago you
couldn't do better than
make a rule now to do your bit every day.
But, really, it is not a matter of choice
at all. You have to do your bit — you can't
possibly help yourself. Because another poet
has used another true expression in "The
River of Life". It is simply a flowing

stream. Just as a river is made up of little drops
of water so life is made up of little moments of

time ; and just as
a river flows,
time passes.
Now, here I pict-
ure a rapid tor-
rent like the Ni-
agara, and here
is a canoe with a
boy in it, with-
out paddle or

CHALK TALKS 161

rudder or oars. Do you think that boy could stop
in one place and just look at the scenery, if he
wanted to? Not for an instant. He is going down
the river at a mile a minute. That is like the river
of life, and every moment of time means a
thought, a word or a deed. You can't help it any
way you try. There is only one thing you have
any say about it ; what kind of a bit yours will be,
whether for good or for ill. Every moment a good
thought, a kind word or a helpful deed. That is
for you to decide, but if you don't so decide, then
it must be the other kind. The stream goes
swiftly on — and the life must be either for self
or for service.

Don't be like Old Scrooge who failed to find
out the true path to happiness until his life was
almost at an end. Old Ebenezer Scrooge ! Charles
Dickens has told his story in the Christmas Carol
—don't fail to read it. As the name suggests,
Scrooge had a sour face. He was a rasping,
paring, scraping, clutching, avaricious old sinner
— whose whole life was lived for self. The story
tells how it was revealed to him how much better
and happier a thing it was to be kind and generous
to others than to live for yourself. He was trans-
formed— you will be delighted at the story of how
it was done — and as by a sort of miracle he be-
came a kindly generous, charitable man. At the
beginning he denounced Christmas as a humbug;
at the end it was said of him that he knew how to
keep Christmas if any man did. From being hat-

162 CHALK TALKS

ed he came to be loved. But Scrooge's was a
rare case. Men and women do not often change
their characters in old age. People who are sel-
fish usually die as they live with nobody to drop
an honest tear of sorrow over their graves.

It is better to start life right and form your
character on noble lines. And how? By doing
your bit every day and every hour — fighting
against the mean and evil tendencies in your
nature, and filling your heart so full of service
of others that the serpent of self will not have
room to live there.

PS Bengough, John Wilson

8453 Bengough »s chalk talks

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